
Glass 
Book 



1 






EXPOSITORY LECTURES 



ox 



ST. PAUL'S EPISTLES TO THE COEINTHIANS. 



EXPOSITORY LECTURES 



ON 



ST. PAUL'S EPISTLES 



TO THE 



CORINTHIANS 



DELIVERED AT TRINITY CHAPEL, BRIGHTON". 



UY THE LATE 



REV. F. W. ROBERTSON, M.A., 

THE INCUMBENT. 



<\s 



LONDON: 

SMITH, ELDER AND CO, 65, CORNHILL. 



M.DCCCLIX. 






\ The right of Tianshticn is reserved.] 



■r* 



i» 



TO 

THE CONGREGATION 



VTORSHIPPIXG IN 



TRINITY CHAPEL, BRIGHTON, 
From August 15, 1S47, to August 15, 1353, 



these 



expository lectures, 



DELIVERED BY THEIR LATE PASTOR, 



ARE DEDICATED. 



PREFACE. 



A few months after Mr. Robertson had entered on his 
ministry at Trinity Chapel, Brighton, he announced his 
intention of taking one of the Books of Scripture as the 
subject of Expository Lectures for the Sunday afternoons., 
This form of address, he said, gave him greater freedom, 
both in subject and style, than that of the sermon, with 
its critical or historical division of some text arbitrarily 
taken as a prefix. He intended, therefore, to deyote each 
Sunday morning to the sermon; and in the afternoon to 
go regularly through each chapter of the Book selected, 
including in his exposition all the topics contained therein. 
On this plan he commenced with the First and Second 
Books of Samuel. In the exposition of these Books 
many subjects came under review which would not have- 
found a place in an ordinary sermon. He was expound- 
ing Hebrew national life, and, incidentally, the experi- 
ences of particular individuals of that nation, — in all of 
which he discerned lessons for the English people, and for 
the men and women who sat before him. Thus it occurred 
that topics of national policy, so far as bearing on indi- 
viduals, — questions of social life — of morals, as they are 
connected with every-day life, arose naturally, and were 
treated with unshrinking faithfulness. The period (1848) 



Till PREFACE. 

was one of great political and social excitement, and these 
Lectures may emphatically be said to have been " preach- 
ing to the times." 

Some people were startled at the introduction of what 
they called " secular subjects " into the pulpit ; but the 
Lecturer, in all his ministrations, refused to recognize the 
distinction so drawn. He said that the whole life of a 
Christian was sacred, — that common every-day duties, 
whether of a trade or a profession, or the minuter 
details of a woman's household life, were the arenas in 
which trial and temptation arose; and that, therefore, it 
became the Christian minister's duty to enter into this 
familiar working life with his people, and help them to 
understand its meaning, its trials, and its compensations. 

It were perhaps out of place here to say how greatly the 
congregation valued this mode of teaching, although it 
may be properly observed that it was at this period that 
his marvellous influence with the working classes com- 
menced. 

Subsequently, Mr. Robertson selected the Acts of the 
Apostles, and the Book of Genesis, for his afternoon 
expositions ; after which he commenced those Lectures 
on the Epistles to the Corinthians, of which this volume 
is but a very imperfect transcript. The Epistles to the 
Corinthians were selected by him, because they afforded 
the largest scope for the consideration of a great variety 
of questions in Christian casuistry, which he thought it 
important to be rightly understood. It will be seen that 
these Lectures were generally expository of the whole 
range of Christian principles. They are less a scheme 
•of doctrine than Mr. Robertson's view of St. Paul's ideas 



PREFACE. IX 

on all the subjects included in his Epistles to the Church 
at Corinth. 

They were the fruit of much study and preparation,. 
and, from examination of his papers, it appears that 
Mr. Robertson prepared very full notes of all the lead- 
ing divisions in most of these Lectures, while of the 
minor divisions, a single word was often all that was 
written down to guide his thought. Occasionally, at the 
request of some friends, he wrote his lecture out after its 
delivery ; and these, with short -hand notes of others, taken 
by different people, and which have been carefully collated, 
with his own manuscript notes, have been the materials 
from which this volume has been arranged. It is, there- 
fore, necessarily somewhat fragmentary in its character. 
Mr. Robertson's custom was to preach from forty to fifty 
minutes, with a clear, unbroken delivery, in which there 
was no hesitation or tautology. Hence it will be evident, 
from the quantity of matter contained in each of these 
printed Lectures, that a considerable portion of the spoken 
Lecture has not been given : and this will explain the 
brevity of some of the discourses, and the apparent in- 
completeness with which many of the topics are treated. 

A few sermons on different texts in the Epistles to the 
Corinthians have already appeared in the three volumes of 
Mr. Robertson's Sermons ; but it has been considered best 
to include them in this volume (although they did not 
form, part of this series), in order that the Lecturer's 
Tiew of the Epistles might so be rendered more com- 
plete. Expositions of two chapters will be found to be 
omitted altogether; there are no notes of the Lectures 
on these chapters available for publication. 



X PREFACE. 

After concluding these Lectures, Mr. Robertson preached, 
one more Sunday afternoon, on the Parable of the Barren 
Fig-tree, with a solemnity and an earnestness that now 
seem to have been prophetic. His voice was never after- 
wards heard from the pulpit of Trinity Chapel. 

Nov. 15, 1859. 



CONTENTS 



Xectcre 


Text 










Tage 


L- 


—(Introductory) — Acts, x 1 * 


iii. 1 .... 1 


II.- 


— 1 Corinthians, i. 1-3 










. 13 


III. 


i. 4-13 












. 25 


IV. 


i. 13-22 












30 


V. 


i. 23 . 












. 35 


VI. 


„ iii. 1-10 












. 38 


VII. 


„ iii. 11-23 












. 47 


VIII. 


iv. 1-7 












. 56 


IX. 


iv. 7-21 












. 65 


X.- 


2 Corinthians, ii. 10, 11 












. 75 


XI.- 


■1 Corinthians, v. 1-13 












. S7 


XII. 


vi. 1-12 












. 97 


XIII. 


vi. 12-20 












. 106 


XIV. 


vii. 1-22 












115 


XV. 


:, vii. 29-31 












129 


XVI. 


„ viii. 1-7 












144 


XVII. 


„ viii. S-13 












151 


XVIII. 


ix. 












168 


XIX. 


X. 












177 


XX. 


xi. 1-17 












186 


XXI. 


„ xi. 18-34 












193 


XXII. 


„ xii. 1-31 












198 


XXIII. 


., xii. 31 ; xiii 


1-3 










204 


XXIV. 


„ xiii. 4-13 












209 


XXV. 


xiv. 1 . 












220 


XXVI. 


„ xiv. 2-40 












231 


XXVII. 


xv. 1-12 . 












242 


XXVIIL 


„ xv. 13-20 












257 


XXIX. 


„ xv. 21-34 . 












267 



Xll 


CONTENTS. 








Lectuke 


Text p AGE 


XXX- 


-1 Corinthians, xv. 35-45 . . . . . , 278 


XXXI. 


„ xv. 46-58 . 






. 286 


XXXII. 


„ xvi. 1-9 . . 






. 296 


XXXIII. 


„ xvi. 10-24 . 






. 306 


XXXIV.- 


-2 Corinthians, i. 1-14 






. 315 


XXXV. 


i. 15-22 . 






. 323 


XXXVI. 


„ i. 23, 24 ; ii. 1-5 






. 329 


xxxvn. 


„ ii. 6-11 . 






. 337 


XXXVIII. 


„ ii. 12-17; iii. 1-3 






. 345 


XXXIX. 


hi. 4-18 . 






. 353 


XL. 


iv. 1-15 . 






. 361 


XLI. 


iv. 16-18; v. 1-3 






. 371 


XLII. 


„ v. 4-11 . 






. 378 


XLIIL 


v. 12-17 . . 






. 3S7 


XLIV. 


„ v. 14, 15 . .. 






. 395 


XLV. 


„ y. 18-21 . . . 






. 409 


XLVI. 


„ vi. 1-10 . 






. 416 


XLVII. 


„ vi. 11-18 . 






. 423 


XLVIH. 


„ vii. 1 . 






. 431 


XLIX. 


„ vii. 2-8 . . 






. 437 


L. 


„ vii. 9, 10 






. 445 


LI. 


„ vii. 11-16 . 






. 455 


Ln. 


„ viii. 1-12 . 






. 465 


Lin. 


„ viii. 13-15 . 






. 474r 


LTV. 


„ vhi. 16-24; ix. 1-15 . 






. 482 


LV. 


x. 1-18 . . 






. 493 


LVI. 


„ xii. 1-21 






. 502 



LECTURES 



EPISTLES TO THE COBINTHIANS. 



INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 

June 1, 1851. 

Acts, xviii. 1. — "After these things Paul departed from Athens, and 
came to Corinth." 

It has been customary with us for more than three 
years to devote our Sunday afternoons to the exposition 
throughout of some one Book of Scripture, and our plan 
has been to take alternately a Book of the Old and of 
the New Testament. I have selected for our present 
exposition the Epistles to the Corinthians, and this for 
several reasons — amongst others, for variety, our previous 
work having been entirely historical.* These Epistles are 
in a different tone altogether : they are eminently practical, 
rich in Christian casuistry. They contain the answers 
of an inspired Apostle to many questions which arise in 
Christian life. 

There is, too, another reason for this selection. The 

* The Book of Genesis. 



2 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

state of the Corinthian Church resembles, in a remarkable 
degree, the state of the Church of this Town in the pre- 
sent day. There is the same complicated civilization, the 
religious quarrels and differences of sect are alike, the 
same questions agitate society, and the same distinctions 
of class exist now as then. For the heart of Humanity 
is the same in all times. The principles, therefore, which 
St. Paul applied to the Corinthian questions will apply 
to those of this time. The Epistles to the Corinthians 
are a witness that Religion does not confine itself to the 
inward being of man alone, nor solely to the examination 
of orthodox opinions. No ! Religion is Life, and right 
instruction in Religion is not the investigation of obsolete 
and curious doctrines, but the application of spiritual 
principles to those questions, and modes of action, which 
concern present existence, in the Market, the Shop, the 
Study, and the Street. 

Before we can understand these Epistles, it is plain 
that we must know to whom, and under what circum- 
stances, they were written, how the writer himself was 
circumstanced, and how he had been prepared for such a 
work by previous discipline. We make, therefore, 

I. Preliminary inquiries respecting Corinth, viewed 
historically, socially, and morally. 

II. Respecting the Apostle Paul. 

I. Inquiry respecting Corinth. 

We all know that Corinth was a Greek city, but we must 
not confound the town to which St. Paul wrote with that 
ancient Corinth which is so celebrated, and with which 
we are so familiar in Grecian history. That Corinth had 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 3 

been destroyed nearly two centuries before the time of 
these Epistles, by the Consul Mummius, B.C. 146. This 
new city, in which the Apostle laboured, had been built 
upon the ruins of the old by Julius Csesar,, not half a 
century before the Christian Church was formed there. 
And this rebuilding had taken place under very dif- 
ferent circumstances — so different as to constitute a new 
population. 

Greece, in the time of the Roman dictators, had lost her 
vigour. She had become worn out, corrupt, and depopu- 
lated. There were not men enough to supply her armies. 
It was necessary, therefore, if Corinth were to rise again, 
to people it with fresh inhabitants, and to reinyigorate 
her constitution with new blood. This was done from 
Rome. Julius Caesar sent to his re-erected city freedmen 
of Rome, who themselves, or their parents, had been slaves. 
From this importation there arose at once one peculiar 
characteristic of the new population. It was Roman, not 
Greek; it was not aristocratic, but democratic; and it 
held within it all the vices as well as all the advantages "of 
a democracy. 

Observe the peculiar bearing of this fact on the 
Epistles to the Corinthians. It was only in such a city 
as Corinth that those public meetings could have taken 
place, in which each one exercised his gifts without order ; 
it was only in such a city that the turbulence and the 
interruptions and the brawls which we read of, and which 
were so eminently characteristic of a democratic society, 
could have existed. 

It was only in such a community that the parties could 
have been formed which marked the Christian Church 

B 2 



4 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

there; where private judgment, independence, and general 
equality existed, out of which parties had to struggle, 
by dint of force and vehemence, if they were to have 
any prominence at all. Thus there were in Corinth 
the advantages of a democracy ; for instance, unshackled 
thought : but also its vices, when men sprang up crying, 
" I am of Paul, and I of Apollos." 

Again, the population was not only democratic, but 
commercial. This was necessitated by the site of Corinth. 
The neck of land which connects northern and southern 
Greece had two ports, Cenchrese on the east, and Lechgeum 
on the west, and Corinth lay between either seaboard. 
Thus all merchandise from north to south necessarily 
passed there, and all commerce from east to west flowed 
through it also, for the other way round the Capes Malea 
and Tgenarum (Matapan) was both longer and more 
dangerous for heavily laden ships. Hence it was not by 
an imperial fiat, but by natural circumstances, that Corinth 
became the emporium of trade. Once rebuilt, the tide 
of commerce, which had been forced in another direction, 
surged naturally back again, and streamed, as of old, 
across the bridge between Europe and Asia. 

And from this arose another feature of its society. Its 
aristocracy was one not of birth, but of wealth. They 
were merchants, not manufacturers. They had not the 
calm dignity of ancient lineage, nor the intellectual culture 
of a manufacturing population. For let us remember 
that manufactories must educate. A manufacturer may 
not be a man of learning, but an educated man he must 
be, by the very necessity of his position. And his intel- 
ligence, contrivance, invention, and skill, which are being 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 5 

drawn out continually every hour, spread their influence 
through his work among the very lowest of his artizans. 
But, on the other hand, Trade does not necessarily need 
more than a clear head, a knowledge of accounts, and a 
certain clever sagacity. It becomes too a life of routine 
at last, which neither, necessarily, teaches one moral truth, 
nor, necessarily, enlarges the mind. And the danger of a 
mere trading existence is that it leaves the soul engaged 
not in producing, but in removing productions from one 
place to another ; it buries the heart in the task of money- 
getting ; and measuring the worthiness of manhood and of 
all things by what they severally are worth, too often 
worships Mammon instead of God. Such men were 
the rich merchants of Corinth. 

In addition to this adoration of gold, there were also 
all the demoralizing influences of a trading seaport. 
Men from all quarters of the globe met in the streets 
of Corinth, and on the quays of its two harbours. Now, 
one reason why a population is always demoralized by 
an influx of strangers continually going and coming is 
this ; a nation shut up in itself may be very narrow, and 
have its own vices, but it will also have its own growth 
of native virtues ; but when peoples mix, and men see the 
sanctities of their childhood dispensed with, and other 
sanctities, which they despise, substituted; when they 
see the principles of their own country ignored, and all 
that they have held venerable made profane and common, 
the natural consequence is that they begin to look upon 
the manners, religion, and sanctities of their own birth- 
place as prejudices. They do not get instead those 
reverences which belong to other countries. They lose 



6 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

their own holy ties and sanctions, and they obtain nothing 
in their place. And so men, when they mix together, cor- 
rupt each other; each contributes his own vices and his 
irreverence of the other's good, to destroy every standard 
of goodness, and each in the contact loses his own excel- 
lences. Exactly as onr young English men and women 
on their return from foreign countries learn to sneer at 
the rigidity of English purity, yet never learn instead 
even that urbanity and hospitality which foreigners have 
as a kind of equivalent for the laxity of their morals. 
Retaining our own haughtiness, and rudeness, and 
misanthropy, we graft, upon our natural vices, sins 
which are against the very grain of our own nature and 
temperament. 

Such as I have described it was the moral state of 
Corinth. The city was the hotbed of the world's evil, in 
w T hich every noxious plant, indigenous or transplanted, 
rapidly grew and flourished ; where luxury and sensuality 
throve rankly, stimulated by the gambling spirit of com- 
mercial life, till Corinth now in the Apostle's time, as in 
previous centuries, became a proverbial name for moral 
corruption. 

Another element in the city was the Greek population. 
To understand the nature of this we must make a distinc- 
tion. I have already said that Greece was tainted to the 
core. Her ancient patriotism was gone. Her valour was 
no more. Her statesmen were no longer pure in policy 
as in eloquence. Her poets had died with, her disgrace. 
She had but the remembrance of what had been. Foreign 
conquest had broken her spirit. Despair had settled on 
her energies. Loss of liberty had ended in loss of manhood. 



TO THE C0R1XTHIANS. 7 

Her children felt the Roman Colossus bestriding their once 
beloved country. The last and most indispensable element 
of goodness had perished, for hope was dead. They buried 
themselves in stagnancy. But remark that amid this uni- 
versal degeneracy there were two classes. There were, first, 
the uncultivated and the poor, to whom the ancient glories 
of their land were yet dear, to whom the old religion was 
not merely hereditary, but true and living still; whose 
imagination still saw the solemn conclave of their ancient 
deities on Mount Olympus, and still heard Pan, and the 
Fauns, and the wood gods piping in the groves. Such 
were they who in Lystra came forth to meet Paul and 
Barnabas, and believed them to be Jupiter and Mercury. 
With such, paganism was still tenaciously believed, just 
as in England now, the faith in witchcraft, spells, and the 
magical virtue of baptismal water, banished from the towns, 
survives and lingers among our rural population. At this 
period it was with that portion of heathenism alone, that 
Christianity came in contact, to meet a foe. 

Very different, however, was the state of the cultivated 
and the rich. They had lost their religion. Their civiliz- 
ation and their knowledge of the world had destroyed 
that ; and that being lost, they retained no natural vent 
for the energies of the restless Greek character. Hence 
out of that hi oil state of intellectual culture there arose a 
craving for "Wisdom;" not the Wisdom which Solomon 
spoke of, but wisdom in the sense of intellectual specula- 
tion. The energy which had found a safe outlet in War 
now wasted itself in the Amphitheatre. The enthusiasm 
which had been stimulated by the noble eloquence of 
patriotism now preyed on glittering rhetoric. They spent 






8 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

their days in tournaments of speeches, and exulted in 
gladiatorial oratory. They would not even listen to a 
sermon from St. Paul, unless it were clothed in dazzling 
words and full of brilliant thought. They were in a state 
not uncommon now with fine intellects whose action is 
cramped. Religion, instead of being solid food for the 
soul, had become an intellectual banquet. That was 
another difficulty with which Christianity had to deal. 

The next thing we observe as influencing Corinthian 
society is, that it was the seat of a Roman provincial 
government. There was there a deputy, that is, a 
proconsul. " Gallio was deputy T of Achaia." Let it 
surprise no one if I say that this was an influence 
favourable to Christianity. The doctrine of Christ had 
not as vet come into direct antagonism with Heathenism. 
It is true that throughout the Acts we read of per- 
secution coming from the Greeks, but at the same 
time we invariably r find that it was the Jews who had 
" stirred up the Greeks." The persecution always arose 
first on the part of the Jews ; and, indeed, until it 
became evident that in Christianity there was a Power 
before which all the principalities of evil, all tyranny 
and wrong, must perish, the Roman magistrates gene- 
rally defended it, and interposed their authority between 
the Christians and their fierce enemies. A signal 
instance of this is related in this chapter. Gallio, 
the Roman proconsul, dismisses the charge brought 
against the Christians. i( And when Paul was now about 
to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, If it 
were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye 
Jews, reason would that I should bear with you: But 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 9 

if it be a question of words and names, and of your 
law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such 
matters." 

And his judgment was followed by a similar verdict 
from the people; for Sosthenes, the ringleader of the 
accusation, was beaten by the mob before the judgment 
seat. And " Gallio cared for none of these things," that 
is, he took no notice of them, he would not interfere ; he 
was, perhaps, even glad that a kind of wild, irregular 
justice was administered to one who had been foremost in 
bringing an unjust charge. So that instead of Gallio 
being, as the commentators make him, a sort of type of reli- 
gious lukewarmness, he is really a specimen of an upright 
Roman magistrate. But what principally concerns us in 
the story now is, that it is an example of the way in which 
the existence of the Roman Government at Corinth was, 
on the whole, an advantage for the spread of the Gospel. 

The last element in this complex community was the 
Jews. Every city, Greek or Roman, at this time was rife 
with them. Then, as now, they had that national pecu- 
liaritv which scatters them among; all nations, while it 
prevents them from amalgamating with any, which 
makes them worshippers of Mammon, and yet withal, 
ready to suffer all things, and even to die for their faith. 
In their way they were religious ; but it was a blind and 
bigoted adherence to the sensuous side of religion. They 
had almost ceased to believe in a living God, but they 
were strenuous believers in the virtue of ordinances. God 
to them only existed for the benefit of the Jewish nation. 
To them a Messiah must be a World-Prince. To them a 
new revelation could only be substantiated by marvels and 



10 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

miracles. To them it could have no self-evident spiritual 
light ; and St. Paul, in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, 
describes the difficulty which this tendency put in the way 
of the progress of the Gospel among them thus : " The 
Jews require a sign." 

II. Respecting the Apostle Paul. 

To this society, so constituted, so complex, so manifold, 
St. Paul came, assured that he was in possession of a truth 
which was adapted and addressed to all, "the power of 
God unto salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew 
first, and also to the Gentile." 

Now, for this work he was peculiarly assisted and 
prepared. 

1. By the fellowship of Aquila and Priscilla. "We read 
that when he came to Corinth he found a certain Jew 
named Aquila, lately come from Italy with his wife 
Priscilla, because that Claudius had commanded all the 
Jews to depart from Rome ; and that he came to them. 

St. Paul had a peculiar gift from God, the power of 
doing without those solaces which ordinary men require. 
But we should greatly mistake that noble heart and rare 
nature, if we conceived of it as hard, stern, and incapable of 
tender human sympathies. Remember how, when anxious 
about these very Corinthians, " he felt no rest when he 
found not Titus his brother, at Troas." Recollect his 
gentle yearnings after the recovery of Epaphroditus. Such 
an one thrown alone upon a teeming, busy, commercial 
population, as he was at Corinth, would have felt crushed. 
Alone he had been left, for he had sent back his usual 
companions on several missions. His spirit had been 
pressed within him at Athens when he saw the city 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. II 

wholly given to idolatry. But that was not so oppressive 
as the sight of human masses, crowding, hurrying, driving- 
together, all engaged in the mere business of getting rich, 
or in the more degrading work of seeking mere sensual 
enjoyment. Nothing so depresses as that. In this crisis, 
Providential arrangements had prepared for him the 
assistance of Priscilla and Aquila. In their house he found 
a home: in their society, companionship. Altogether 
with them, he gained that refreshment for his spirit, with- 
out which it would have been perilous for him to have 
entered on his work in Corinth. 

2. He was sustained by manual work. He wrought 
with his friends as a tent-maker. That was his " craft." 
For by the rabbinical law, all Jews w T ere taught a trade. 
One rabbi had said, that he who did not teach his son a 
trade, instructed him to steal. Another had declared that 
the study of theology along with a trade was good for the 
soul, and without it a temptation from the devil. So ? 
too, it was the custom of the monastic institutions to 
compel every brother to work, not only for the purpose of 
supporting the monastery, but also to prevent the entrance 
of evil thoughts. A wise lesson ! For in a life like that 
of Corinth, in gaiety, or the merely thoughtful existence, in 
that state of leisure to which so many minds are exposed, 
woe and trial to the spirit that has nothing for the hands to 
do! Misery to him or her who emancipates himself or 
herself from the universal law, " In the sweat of thy brow 
shalt thou eat bread." Evil thoughts, despondency, sensual 
feelings, sin in every shape is before him, to beset and 
madden, often to ruin him. 

3. By the rich experience he had gained in Athens. 



12 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

There the Apostle had met the philosophers on their 
own ground. He had shown them that there was a want 
in Human Nature to which the Gospel was adapted ; he 
had spoken of their cravings after the Unknown ; he had 
declared that he had to preach to them that which they, 
unconsciously, desired : he had stripped their worship of 
its anthropomorphism, and had manifested to them that the 
residuum was the germ of Christianity. And his speech 
was triumphant as oratory, as logic, and as a specimen of 
philosophic thought ; but in its bearing on conversion, it 
was unsuccessful. His work at Athens was a failure ; 
Dionysius and a few women are all we read of as con- 
verted. There was no church at Athens. 

Richly taught by this, he came to Corinth and preached 
no longer to the wise, the learned, or the rich. " Ye 
see your calling, brethren," he said, "how that not 
many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not 
many noble are called." God had chosen the poor of 
this world to be rich in faith. He no longer confronted the 
philosopher on his own ground, or tried to accommodate 
the Gospel to his tastes : and then that memorable 
resolve is recorded, " I determined to know nothing 
among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." Not 
the crucifixion of Christ; but Christ, and that Christ 
crucified. He preached Christ, though crucified; Christ 
crucified, though the Greeks might mock and the Jews 
reject Him with scorn — Christ as Christianity; Christ His 
own evidence. We know the result; the Church of 
Corinth, the largest and noblest harvest ever given to 
ministerial toil. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 13 



LECTURE II. 

June 8, 1851. 

1 Corinthians, i. 1-3. — "Paul called to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ 
through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, — Unto the church 
of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, 
called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of 
Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: — Grace be unto you, and 
peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ." 

Our discourse last Sunday put us in possession of the state 
of Corinth when the Apostle entered it. We know what 
Corinth was intellectually, politically, morally, and socially. 
We learnt that it contained a democratic population. We 
found it commercial, rich, and immoral from its being a 
trading seaport. We spoke of its Roman government, 
which on the whole acted fairly at that time toward 
Christianity ; of its Greek inhabitants, of whom the richer 
were sceptics who had lost their religion, and the poorer 
still full of superstitions, as we discover from the notices of 
heathen sacrifices which pervade these Epistles. And the 
last element was the Jewish population, who were devoted 
to a religion of si oris and ordinances. 

Our subject for to-day comprises the first three verses of 
this chapter. From these we take three points for investi- 
gation — 

I. The* designation of the writers. 
II. The description of the persons addressed. 
III. The benediction. 



14 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

I. The designation of the writers. Paul " an Apostle" — 
Sosthenes " our brother." An apostle means " one sent," 
a missionary to teach the truth committed to him ; and 
the authority of this apostolic mission St. Paul sub- 
stantiates in the words " called to be an Apostle of 
Jesus Christ through the will of God? There was a 
necessity for this vindication of his Apostleship. At the 
time of writing this Epistle he was at Ephesus, having 
left Corinth after a stay of eighteen months. There he 
was informed of the state of the Church in Achaia by 
those of the house of Chloe, a Christian lady, and by 
letters from themselves. From this correspondence he 
learnt that his authority was questioned; — and so St. Paul, 
unjustly treated and calumniated, opens his Epistle with 
these words, written partly in self-defence — "Called to 
be an apostle by the will of God." In the firm conviction 
of that truth lay all his power. No man felt more 
strongly than St. Paul his own insignificance. He told his 
converts again and again that he "was not meet to be 
called an Apostle ; " that he was " the least of all saints," 
that he was the " chief of sinners." And yet, intensely as 
he felt all this, more deeply did he feel something above 
and beyond all this, that he was God's messenger, that his 
was a true Apostleship, that he had been truly commis- 
sioned by the King; and hence he speaks with courage 
and with freedom. His words were not his own, but His 
who had sent him. Imagine that conception dawning on 
his spirit, imagine, if you can, that light suddenly struck 
out of his own mind in the midst of his despondency, and 
then you will no longer wonder at the almost joyful bold- 
ness with which he stood firm, as on a rock, against the 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 15 

slander of his enemies, and the doubtfulness of his friends. 
Now, unless this is felt by us, our life and work has lost 
its impulse. If we think of our profession or line of 
action, simply as arising from our own independent 
choice, or from chance, instantly we are paralyzed, 
and our energies refuse to act vigorously. But what 
was it which nerved the Apostle's soul to bear reproach 
and false witness ? Was it not this ? I have a mission : 
" I am called to be an Apostle through the will of God." 
Well, this should be our strength. Called to be a 
Carpenter, a Politician, a Tradesman, a Physician — is he 
irreverent who believes that? God sent me here to cut 
wood, to direct justly, to make shoes, to teach children : — 
WTiy should not each and all of us feel that ? It is one of the 
greatest truths on which we can rest our life, and by which 
we can invigorate our work. But we get rid of it by 
claiming it exclusively for St. Paul. We say that God called 
the Apostles, but does not speak to us. We say they were 
inspired and lifted above ordinary Humanity. But observe 
the modesty of his apostolic claim. He does not say, "I am 
infallible," but only that the Will of God has sent him as It 
had sent others. He did not wish that his people should 
receive his truth because he, the Apostle, had said it, but 
because it was truth. He did not seek to bind men, as if 
they were destitute of reasoning, to any avrog etjtri, as is set 
up now by Evangelicalism or Popery, but throughout the 
whole of this Epistle he uses arguments, he appeals to 
reason and to sense. He convinces them that he was an 
Apostle, not by declarations that they must believe him, 
but by appealing to the truth he had taught — "by 
manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every 



16 LECTUEES ON THE EPISTLES 

man's conscience in the sight of God." Further, we see in 
the fact of St. Paul's joining with himself Sosthenes, and 
calling him his brother, another proof of his desire to avoid 
erecting himself as the sole guide of the Church. He 
sends the Epistle from himself and Sosthenes. Is that like 
one who desired to be Lord alone over God's heritage? 
e( I am an Apostle — sent by the will of God; but Sosthenes 
is my brother." Of Sosthenes himself, nothing certain is 
known. He is supposed by some to be the Sosthenes of 
Acts xvii., the persecutor, the ringleader of the Jews 
against the Christians, who was beaten before the judg- 
ment seat of Gallio. If so, see what a conqueror St. Paul, 
or rather, Christianity had become. Like the Apostle of the 
Gentiles, Sosthenes now built up the faith which once he 
destroyed. But, in truth, we know nothing accurately, 
except that he was a Corinthian known to the persons 
addressed, and now with Paul at Ephesus. The proper 
reflection from the fact of his being joined with the Apostle, 
is the humility of St. Paul. He never tried to make a 
Party or form a Sect ; he never even thought of placing 
himself above them as an infallible and autocratic Pope. 

II. The persons addressed. " The Church of God which 
is at Corinth." The Church! What is the Church ? That 
question lies below all the theological differences of the 
day. The Church, according to the derivation of the 
word, means the House of God. It is that Body of men 
in whom the Spirit of God dwells as the Source of their 
excellence, and who exist on earth for the purpose of 
exhibiting the Divine Life and the hidden order of 
Humanity : to destroy evil and to assimilate Humanity to 
God, to penetrate and purify the world, and as salt, preserve 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 17 

it from corruption. It lias an existence continuous through- 
out the ages ; continuous however, not on the principles of 
hereditary succession or of human election, as in an ordi- 
nary corporation, but on the principle of spiritual simi- 
larity of character.* The Apostle Paul asserted this 
spiritual succession when he said that the seed of 
Abraham were to be reckoned, not as his lineal descendants, 
but as inheritors of his faith. f And Christ, too, meant 
the same, when he told the Jews that out of the 
stones before Him God could raise up children unto 
Abraham. There is, however, a Church visible, and a 
Church invisible; the latter consists of those spiritual 
persons who fulfil the notion of the Ideal Church ; the 
former is the Church as it exists in any particular age, 
embracing within it all who profess Christianity, whether 
they be proper or improper members of its body. Of the 
invisible Church, the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews 
speaks ;i and St. Paul also alludes to this in the description 
which he gives of the several churches, to whom he 
writes in language which certainly far transcended their 
actual state. As, for instance, in this Epistle, he speaks 
of them as " called to be saints," as " temples of the 
Holy Ghost," and then in another place describes them in 
their actual . state, as " carnal, and walking as men." 
Again, it is of the visible Church he writes, when he 
reproves their particular errors : and Christ, too, speaks of 
the same in such parables as that of the net gathering in 
fishes both good and bad, and the field of wheat which was 
mingled with tares. 

An illustration may make this plain. The abstract con- 
* John, i. 13. f Gal. iii. 7. $ Heb. xii. 23. 

C 



18 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

ception of a river is that of a stream of pure, unmixed 
water, but the actual river is the Rhine, or the Rhone, or 
the Thames, muddy and discoloured, and charged with 
impurity ; and the conception of this or that river neces- 
sarily contains within it these peculiarities. So of the 
Church of Christ. Abstractedly, and invisibly, it is a 
kingdom of God in which no evil is ; in the concrete, and 
actually, it is the church of Corinth, of Rome, or of 
England, tainted with impurity; and yet just as the 
mudded Rhone is really the Rhone, and not mud and 
Rhone, so there are not two churches, the church of 
Corinth and the false church within it, but one visible 
Church, in which the invisible lies concealed. This 
principle is taught in the parable, which represents the 
Church as a Vine. There are not two vines, but 
one; and the withered branches, which shall be cut off 
hereafter, are really for the present part and portion of 
the Vine. So far then, it appears, that in any age, the 
visible Church is, properly speaking, the Church. 

But beyond the limits of the Visible, is there no true 
Church? Are Plato, Socrates, Marcus Antoninus, and 
such as they, to be reckoned by us as lost. Surely not. 
The Church exists for the purpose of educating souls for 
heaven : but it would be a perversion of this purpose were 
we to think that goodness will not be received by God, 
because it has not been educated in the Church. Good- 
ness is goodness, find it where we may. A vineyard 
exists for the purpose of nurturing vines, bu^ he would 
be a strange vine-dresser who denied the reality of grapes 
because they had ripened under a less genial soil, and 
beyond the precincts of the vineyard. The truth is, that 



TO THE COKINTHIANS. 19 

the Eternal Word has communicated Himself to man in 
the expressed Thought of God, the Life of Christ. They to 
whom that Light has been manifested are Christians. But 
that Word has communicated Himself silently to human 
minds, on which the manifested Light has never shone. 
Such men lived with God, and were guided by His Spirit. 
They entered into the Invisible ; they lived by Faith. They 
were beyond their generation. They were not of the 
world. The Eternal Word dwelt within them. For 
the Light that shone forth in a full blaze in Christ lights 
also, we are told, "every man that cometh into the 
world." Instances that lead us to this truth are given 
in the Scriptures of persons beyond the pale of the Church, 
who, before their acquaintance with the Jewish nation, had 
been in the habit of receiving spiritual communications of 
their own from God: such were Melchisedec, Job, 
Eahab, and Nebuchadnezzar. 

But from this digression, let us return to the visible 
Church of which the Church of Corinth formed a part. It 
existed as we have said to exhibit what Humanity should 
be, to represent the Life Divine on earth, and that chiefly 
in these particulars : — 

1. Self-devotion — " To them that are sanctified in Christ 
Jesus." 

2. Sanctity — " Called to be saints." 

3. Universality — " With all that in every place call on 
the name of Jesus Christ our Lord." 

4. Unity — "Of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs 
and ours;" for Christ was their common centre, and 
every church felt united into one body when they knew 
that He belonged to all, that they all had one Spirit, one 

c 2 



20 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES 

Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father in Jesus 
Christ. 

First, then, the Church exists to exhibit self-devotion. 
They were " sanctified in Christ Jesus." Now the true 
meaning of "to sanctify" is to set apart, and hence to con- 
secrate to any work. Thus spoke Christ, "For their sakes 
I sanctify, set apart, devote Myself." His life was a 
voluntary devotion of Himself even to the death, as well 
to save others as to bear witness to the truth. It is this 
attribute of the Divine nature in Humanity that the 
Church exists to exhibit now on earth. And then it 
is a Church most truly when it is most plainly devoted. 
Thus it was in martyr times, when the death and per- 
secuted existence of the saints of God were at once the 
life-blood of the Church and a testimony to the truth of its 
Faith. But then it is not, plainly, the Church, where bishops 
and priests are striving to aggrandize their own power, 
and seeking to impress men with the idea of the infallibility 
of their office. When the ecclesiastical dignity makes god- 
liness a means of gain, or when priestcraft exercises lordship 
over the heritage of God, then it is falsifying its mission, for 
it is existing to establish, instead of to destroy, selfishness. 

Secondly, it exists to establish sanctity. 

The Church of Corinth was formed, as we have said, of 
peculiar elements. It arose out of a democratic, and 
therefore a factious, community. It sprang out of an 
extremely corrupt society, where pride of wealth abounded, 
and where superstition and scepticism looked one another 
in the face. It developed itself in the midst of a Judaism 
which demanded visible proofs of a divine mission. 
Ancient vices still infected the Christian converts. They 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 21 

carried into the Church the savour of their old life, for 
the wine-skin will long retain the flavour with which it 
has been once imbued. We find from these Epistles that 
gross immorality still existed and was even considered a 
thing to boast of. We find their old philosophy still 
colouring their Christianity, for on the foundation of the 
oriental idea that the body was the source of all sin, they 
denied a future resurrection. We find the insolence of 
wealth at the Lord's Supper. We find spiritual gifts 
abused by being exhibited for the sake of ostentation. 
Such was the Church of Corinth! This is the Early 
Church so boasted of by some ! Yet nowhere do we find, 
" These are not of the Church ; these are of the Church." 
Rather all are the Church — the profligate brother, the 
proud rich man, the speculative philosopher, the mere 
partizan, the superstitious and the seeker after signs, all 
(e are called to be saints." All were temples of the Holy 
Ghost, though possibly admonished that they might be 
defiling that temple. " Know ye not that your bodies are 
the temples of the Holy Ghost " — that " Christ is in you, 
except ye be reprobates ? " In the face of this the hypo- 
thetical view of Baptism is impossible. Publicans and 
sinners may be in the Church, and yet they are called 
God's children, His children, redeemed though not sancti- 
fied ; His people pardoned and reconciled by right, though 
the reconciliation and the pardon are not theirs in fact, 
unless they accept it. For it is possible to open the doors 
of the prison, and yet for the prisoner to refuse deliverance ; 
it is possible to forgive an injury, and yet for the injurer 
to retain his anger, and then reconciliation and friendship, 
which are things of two sides, are incomplete. Neverthe- 



22 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES 

less, all are designed for holiness, all of the professing 
Church are " called to be saints." Hence the Church of 
Christ is a visible body of men providentially elected out 
of the world to exhibit holiness, some of whom really 
manifest it in this life, while others do not ; and the mission 
of this society is to put down evil. 

Thirdly, Its universality. c ( With all who, in every 
place, call upon the name of Jesus Christ, both theirs 
and ours." 

The Corinthian Church was, according to these words 
of the Apostle, not an exclusive avrapynQ Church, but 
only a part of the Church universal, as a river is of the 
sea. He allowed it no proud superiority. He would not 
permit it to think of itself as more spiritual or as possess- 
ing higher dignity than the Church at Jerusalem or 
Thessalonica. They were called to be saints along 
with, and on a level with, all who named the Name of 
Christ. 

Is this our idea when we set up Anglicanism against 
Romanism, and make England the centre of unity instead 
of Rome ? There is no centre of unity but Christ. We go 
to God with proud notions of our spirituality and our 
claims. We boast ourselves of our advantages over 
Dissenters and Romanists. Whereas the same God is 
ee theirs and ours ; " the same Christ is (i theirs and ours." 
Oh ! only so far as we feel that God is our Father not my 
Father, and Christ our Saviour not my Saviour, do we 
realize the idea of the Church. " The name of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours." What a death-blow 
to Judaism and party spirit in Corinth ! 

Lastly, unity. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 23 

Christ was theirs and ours. He was the Saviour of all, 
and the common Supporter of all. Though individual 
churches might differ, and though sects might divide even 
those churches, and though each might have a distinct 
truth, and manifest distinct gifts, yet Christ existed in 
all. The same one Spirit, His Spirit, pervaded all, and 
strengthened all, and bound all together into a living and 
invisible unity. Each in their several ways contributed 
to build up the same building on the same Foundation ; 
each in their various ways were distinct members of 
Christ's Body, performing different offices, yet knit into 
One under the same Head ; and the very variety produced 
a more perfect and abiding unity. 

III. The Benediction. " Grace and peace from God our 
Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ." 

This is, if you will, a formula, but forms like this teach 
much ; they tell of the Spirit from which they originate. 
The heathen commenced their letters with the salutation, 
" Health ! " There is a life of the Flesh, and there is a 
life of the Spirit — a truer, more real, and a higher Life, 
and above and beyond all things the Apostle wished them 
this. He wished them not " Health" nor " Happiness," 
but " Grace and Peace " from God our Father. And now 
comes the question, What is the use of this benediction? 
How could grace and peace be given as a blessing to 
those who rejected grace and not believing felt no peace ? 
Let me try to illustrate this. When the minister in a 
representative capacity, in the person of Christ, declares 
absolution to a sinner, his absolution is not lost if the man 
rejects it, or cannot receive it ; for it returns to him again, 
and he has done what he could to show that in Christ 



24 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

there is a full absolution for the sinner, if he will take it. 
Remember what Christ said to the seventy : " When ye 
enter into an house, say, Peace be to this house ; and if the 
Son of Peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it, if 
not, it shall return to you again." 

The validity of St. Paul's blessing depended on its 
reception by the hearts to whom it was addressed. If they 
received it they became in fact what they had been by 
right all along, sons of God : they " set to their seal that 
God was true." 

e< Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord 
Jesus Christ." For the special revelation of Jesus Christ 
is, that God is our Father, and when we believe that, not 
merely with our intellects, but with our hearts, and 
evidence in our lives that we believe it, and that this 
relationship is the spring of our motives and actions, 
then will flow in the Peace which passeth all understanding, 
and we are blessed indeed with the blessing of God. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 25 



LECTURE III. 

June 15, 1S51. 

1 Corinthians, i. 4-13. — " I thank my God always on your behalf, for 
the Grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; — That in every 
thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; — 
Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: — So that ye 
come behind in no gift ; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus 
Christ: — Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be 
blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. — God is faithful, by 
whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our 
Lord. — Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no 
divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the 
same mind and in the same judgment. — For it hath been declared unto 
me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, 
that there are contentions among you. — Now this I say, that every 
one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; 
and I of Christ." 

Our work to-day will be from the commencement of the 
fourth to the end of the thirteenth verses, in which we 
find two points ; first, the Apostolic congratulations from 
the fourth to the tenth verse; and, after that, the Apostolic 
warning and rebuke, from the tenth to the end. First, 
then, the Apostolic congratulation — " I thank my God 
always on your behalf," &c. Let us remark here how, in 
the heart of St. Paul, the unselfishness of Christianity had 
turned this world into a perpetual feast. He had almost 
none of the personal enjoyments of existence. If we want 
to know what his life was, we have only to turn to the 
eleventh chapter of the second Epistle : " Of the Jews 
five times received I forty stripes save one, thrice was I 



26 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

beaten with rods, once was I stoned," &c. That was his 
daily outward life ; yet we shall greatly mistake the life 
of that glorious Apostle if we suppose it to have been an 
unhappy one. It was filled with blessedness ; the blessed- 
ness which arises from that high Christian faculty through 
which a man is able to enjoy the blessings of others as 
though they were his own. Thus, the Apostle, in all his 
weariness and persecutions, was, nevertheless, always 
rejoicing with his Churches; and especially he rejoiced 
over the gifts and graces given to the Corinthians, of 
which he here enumerates three : first, Utterance, then 
Knowledge, and then the grace of that peculiar attitude 
of Expectation with which they were looking for the 
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. He speaks of the gift 
of Utterance, and we shall understand his reason for call- 
ing it a gift rather than a grace, when we remember that, 
in his conception, Charity was far above Knowledge. 
To him a blessing was nothing, unless it could be im- 
parted to others. Knowing a truth is one thing: being 
able to express it, is quite another thing ; and then again, 
to be able to express a truth is one thing, but to dare to 
do it is another thing altogether. The Apostle unites 
both of these in the expression, " utterance : " it is, at the 
same time, an intellectual gift and a spiritual grace. St. 
Paul also thanks God for their Knowledge; for utterance 
without knowledge is worthless. He did not value these 
things merely for themselves, but only as they were means 
to an end — channels for conveying truth to others. 

The last gift for which the Apostle thanks God in this 
place was their attitude of Expectation— they were wait- 
ing for the coming of the Lord he says, " So that ye 



TO THE COEINTHIANS. 27 

come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of the 
Lord ; " as though that were the highest gift of all ; as 
if that attitude of expectation were the highest posture 
that can be attained here by the Christian. It implies 
a patient, humble spirit, one that is waiting for, one that 
is looking forward to, something higher and better. The 
Apostle seems by this to tell us that the highest spirit is 
shown rather in calm expectation, than in disputing how 
that Kingdom shall come, in believing that it must come, 
and silently waiting for God's own time for the revealing. 
St. Paul's congratulation contains a ground of hope for 
the continuance of those blessings — a God shall confirm 
you to the end; " and again, " God is faithful." He relies 
not on any stability of human goodness, he knows that 
he cannot trust to their inherent firmness or fidelity; 
his ground of confidence for the future is rather in the 
character of God. This is our only stay, our only hope, the 
unchanging faithfulness of God. True it is, that doctrine 
may be abused, we may rest upon it too much, and so 
become indifferent and supine ; but, nevertheless, it is a 
most precious truth, and without some conviction of this, 
I cannot understand how any man dares go forth to his 
work in the morning, or at evening lay his head on his 
pillow to sleep. 

We now pass on, secondly, to consider .the Apostle's 
warning and reproof — Parties had arisen in Corinth : let 
us endeavour briefly to understand what these parties 
were. You cannot have read the Epistles without per- 
ceiving that the Apostles taught very differently — not a 
different gospel, but each one a different side of the gospel. 
Contrast the Epistles of St. Paul with those of St. Peter 



28 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

or St. John. These were not contrarieties, but varieties, 
and so together they made up the unity of the Church of 
Christ. The first party in Corinth of which we shall 
speak was that one which called itself by the name of 
Paul ; and the truths which they would chiefly proclaim 
would doubtless be those of Liberty and Universality. 
Moreover, St. Paul was not ordained like other teachers, 
but was called suddenly by special revelation of the Lord. 
He frequently refers to this, and declares that he was 
taught — not of man, but of God only. Now, the party 
calling itself by the name of Paul would doubtless exag- 
gerate this, and teach, instead of liberty, licentiousness; 
and so with the other peculiarities of his teaching. There 
was also a party naming itself after Apollos ; he had been 
educated at Alexandria, the university of the world, 
and we are told that he was mighty in the Scriptures, 
and remarkable for eloquence. The difference between 
Apollos and St. Paul seems to be not so much a differ- 
ence of views as in the mode of stating those views : the 
eloquence of St. Paul was rough and burning; it stirred 
men's hearts, kindling in them the living fire of truth: 
that of Apollos was more refined and polished. There 
was also the party called by the name of Peter. Chris- 
tianity in his heart had been regularly and slowly 
developed ; he had known Jesus first as the Son of Man ; 
and afterwards as the Son of God. It was long before 
he realized God's purpose of love to the Gentiles — in his 
conception the Messiah was to be chiefly King for the Jews; 
therefore all the Jewish converts, who still clung to very 
much that was Jewish, preferred to follow St. Peter. 
Lastly, there was the party calling itself by the name 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 29 

of Christ Himself. History does not inform us what were 
the special views of this party; but it is not difficult to 
imagine that they set themselves up as superior to all 
others. Doubtless, they prided themselves on their 
spirituality and inward light, and looked down with 
contempt on those who professed to follow the opinion 
of any teacher. Perhaps they ignored the apostolic 
teaching altogether, and proclaimed the doctrine of direct 
communion with God without the aid of ministry or 
ordinances : and these, as well as the others, the Apostle 
rebuked. The guilt of these partizans did not lie in 
holding views differing from each other : it was not so 
much in saying "this is the truth," as it was in saying 
" this is not the truth; " the guilt of schism is when each 
party, instead of expressing fully his own truth, attacks 
others, and denies that the others are in the Truth at all. 

Avoid, I pray you, the accursed spirit of sectarianism : 
suffer not yourselves to be called by any party names ; 
One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren. 
Let each man strive to work out, bravely and honestly, 
the truth which God has given to him; and when men 
oppose us and malign us, let us still, with a love which 
hopeth all things, strive rather to find good in them — 
truths special to them — but which as yet they — perhaps 
unconsciously — falsely represent. 



30 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 



LECTURE IV. 

June 22, 1851. 

I Corinthians, i. 13-22. — "Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for 
you ? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul ? — I thank God that I 
baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius ; — Lest any should say 
that I had baptized in mine own name. — And I baptized also the 
household of Stephanas : besides, I know not whether I baptized any 
other. — For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel : 
not with wisdom of words, lest the Cross of Christ should be made of 
none effect. — For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish 
foolishness ; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. — For 
it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to 
nothing the understanding of the prudent. — Where is the wise ? where 
is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made 
foolish the wisdom of this world? — For after that in the wisdom of 
God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the 
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. — For the Jews 
require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom." 

Last Sunday we endeavoured to arrive at a right under- 
standing respecting the different parties in the Church of 
Corinth : let us now pass on to consider the argument by 
which St. Paul met these sectarians. It was an appeal 
to Baptism, and to understand the force of that appeal, we 
must endeavour to understand what Christian Baptism 
is. It contains two things : something on the part of God, 
and something on the part of man. On God's part it 
is an authoritative revelation of His Paternity : on man's 
part it is an acceptance of God's covenant. Now there 
is a remarkable passage in which we find St. Paul ex- 
pressing the meaning of Baptism as symbolizing submis- 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 31 

sion, discipleship to any particular teacher, "Moreover, 
brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant how 
that all our fathers were baptized unto Moses in the 
cloud and in the sea." When the Israelites passed through 
the Red Sea they cut themselves off for ever from Egypt, 
so that, figuratively speaking, the Apostle teaches that 
in that immersion they were baptized unto Moses, for 
thereby they declared themselves his followers, and 
left all to go with him. And so, just as the soldier who 
receives the bounty money is thereby pledged to serve his 
sovereign, so he who has passed through the Baptismal 
waters, is pledged to fight under the Redeemer's banner 
against sin, the world, and the devil. And now the 
argument of St. Paul becomes plain. He argues thus, 
To whom were ye then baptized? To whom did you 
pledge yourselves in discipleship? If to Christ, why do 
ye name yourselves by the name of Paul? If all were 
baptized into that One Name, how is it that a few only 
have adopted it as their own ? 

Upon this we make two remarks ; first, the value and 
blessedness of the Sacraments. It will be asked, To what 
purpose are the Sacraments of the Church ? if they work 
no miracle, of what avail are they? Our reply is, Much, 
every way ; among others, that they are authoritative 
signs and symbols. Now there is very much contained 
in the idea of a recognised authoritative symbol; for 
instance, in some parts of the country it is the custom 
to give and receive a ring in token of betrothal; but 
that is very different from the marriage-ring, it being not 
authoritative, and being without the sanction of the 
Church. 



32 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

It would have been perfectly possible for man to have 
invented for himself another symbol of the truth conveyed 
in Baptism, but then it would not have been authoritative, 
and consequently it would have been weak and useless. 
Now, there is another thing, and that is, that these 
Sacraments are the epitomes of Christian Truth. This 
is the way in which the Apostle frequently makes use of 
the Sacraments. From the Epistle to the Romans we find 
that Antinamianism had crept into the Church, and that 
there were some who said, that if only they believed, it did 
not matter that they sinned. How does St. Paul meet 
this ? By an appeal to Baptism : he says, " God forbid, 
how shall we, who are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 
know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into 
Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?" "Buried 
with Him by baptism," — in the very form of that Sacra- 
ment there was a protest against this Antinomianism. 
And again, in reference to the Lord's Supper, in the 
Church of Corinth abuses had crept in ; that Holy 
Communion had become a feast of gluttony and a signal 
of division. This error he endeavours to correct by 
reference to the institution of the Supper itself, "The 
bread which we break, is it not the Communion of the 
Body of Christ?" The single loaf, broken into many 
fragments, contains within it a truth symbolical, that the 
Church of Christ is one. Here, in the text, St. Paul 
makes the same appeal: he appeals to Baptism against 
sectarianism, and so long as we retain it, it is an ever- 
lasting protest against every one who breaks the unity 
of the Church. The other remark we have to make 
bears on the peculiar meaning of the Sacrament. We are 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 33 

all aware that there are those in the Church of Christ, 
whose personal holiness and purity are unquestionable, 
who yet believe and teach that all children are born into 
the world children of the devil, and there are those who 
agree in this belief, though differing as to the remedy; 
who hold that the special and only instrument for their 
conversion into God's children is Baptism : and they believe 
that there is given to the ministers of the Church the power 
of conveying in that Sacrament the Holy Spirit, which 
effects this wondrous change. I know not that I have 
misrepresented this view : I do not think I have, yet I say 
at least, that if a minister really believes he has this power, 
then it is only with fear and trembling that he should 
approach the font in which he is about to baptize a child. 
But, let us try this view by the passage before us : if this 
view be true, then the Apostle, in saying that he thanked 
God he had not baptized, thanked God that he had not 
regenerated any: he rejoices that he had not conveyed 
the Spirit of God to any one but Crispus and Gaius, and 
the household of Stephanas. And all this merely, lest he 
should perchance lie under the slander of having made to 
himself a party ! If we reject this hypothesis as impossible, 
then it is plain that the view we have alluded to rests on 
no scriptural basis. We pass on, lastly, to consider the 
compromise which Paul refused to make : he would make 
none, either with the Jews in their craving after Signs, 
or with the Greeks in their longing after Wisdom. For 
fifteen hundred years forms and signs had been the craving 
of the Jews. St. Peter even had leanings in the same 
direction. The truth seems to be, that wherever there is 
life, there will be a form ; but wherever a form is, it does 



34 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

not follow that there must be life ; St. Paul stood firm — 
Not Signs, but Christ. Neither would he make any 
compromise with the craving after an intellectual religion. 
There was a diametrical contrast between the Jewish and 
the Grecian spirit : one seemed all body, and the other all 
mind. The wisdom, of which St. Paul speaks, appears 
to have been of two kinds— speculative philosophy, and 
wisdom of words — eloquence. Men bow before talent, 
even if unassociated with goodness, but between these 
two we must make an everlasting distinction. When 
once the idolatry of talent enters, then farewell to 
spirituality; when men ask their teachers, not for that 
which will make them more humble and God-like, but 
for the excitement of an intellectual banquet, then 
farewell to Christian progress. Here also St. Paul 
again stood firm — Not Wisdom, but Christ crucified* 
St. Paul might have complied with these requirements 
of his converts, and then he would have gained admi- 
ration, and love — he would have been the leader of a 
party, but then he would have been false to his Master — 
he would have been preferring self to Christ. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 35 



LECTURE V. 

June 29, 1851. 

1 Corinthians, i. 23.—" But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews 
a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness." 

In the course of our exposition of this Epistle, we have 
learnt the original constitution of Corinthian society, and 
have ascertained the state of the religious parties in that city 
at the time St. Paul wrote. We have seen that the Apostle 
Paul refused to make a compromise with either of these 
parties ; it remains for us now to consider first the subject 
which he resolved to dwell upon, and then the results 
of that teaching on the different classes of his hearers. 
His subject was — " Christ crucified." The expression, 
" preaching Christ," is very much misunderstood by many 
persons. It is, therefore, incumbent on us to endeavour 
calmly to understand what the Apostle meant by this. We 
say, then, that to preach Christ is to preach Christianity, 
that is, the Doctrines which He taught. In Acts, xv. 21, 
we read, " Moses of old time hath in every city them that 
preach him." The reading of the Pentateuch was the 
preaching of Moses. Preaching Christ is setting forth 
His Doctrines in contra-distinction to those of the World. 
The World says — Resent an injury ; Christ says — Forgive 
your enemies. If, therefore, we preach Forgiveness, are 

D 2 



36 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

we not thereby preaching Christ, even though no distinct 
mention may be made of his Divinity or of the doctrine 
of the Atonement? In the Sermon on the Mount there 
is contained no reference to any one special doctrine of 
Christianity, as we should call it; nor in the Epistle 
of St. James is there found one word respecting the 
doctrine of the Atonement ; but if we take this Sermon 
or this Epistle, and simply work out the truths therein 
contained — tell us, are we not thereby preaching Christ ? 
To preach Goodness, Mercy, Truth, not for the bribe of 
heaven or from the fear of hell, but in the Name of God 
the Father, is to preach Christ. 

Once more, this expression implies preaching Truth in 
connection with a Person : it is not merely Purity, but the 
Pure One ; not merely Goodness, but the Good One that 
^ve worship. Let us observe the twofold advantage of this 
mode of preaching : first, because it makes religion prac- 
tical. The Greek teachers were also teaching Purity, 
Goodness, Truth ; they were striving to lead men's minds 
to the First Good, the First Fair. The Jewish Rabbis were 
also endeavouring to do the same, but it is only in Christ 
that it becomes possible to do this effectually. The second 
advantage in preaching Christianity in connection with a 
Person is, that it gives us something to adore, for we can 
adore a person, but we cannot adore 'principles. There is 
implied in this expression, "preaching Christ crucified," 
the Divine nature of Humility. Paul would not preach 
Christ as a conqueror, although by that he might please 
the Jews, or yet as a philosopher, in order that he might 
satisfy the Greeks; he would only preach Him as the 
humble, crucified Man of Nazareth. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 37 

We are in the second place to consider the results of 
this teaching on the several classes of his hearers. To the 
Jew it was a stumbling-block, something over which he 
could not pass ; the Jew could not receive the Gospel, 
unless accompanied by signs and miracles to prove that it 
was from God. To the Greeks it was foolishness, for the 
Apostle spoke to them as an uneducated, uncultivated 
man ; and they missed the sophistry, the logic, and the 
brilliant eloquence of their professional orators. Neither 
could they see what advantage his teaching could be to 
them, for it would not show them how to form a statue, 
build a temple, or make a fortune, which things they looked 
upon as the chief glories of life. But there was another 
class on whom his words made a very different impression. 
They are those whom the Apostle describes as " the 
Called." To them Christ was the Power and the Wisdom 
of God. He does not mean to assert here the doctrine of 
Election or Predestination ; on the contrary, he says that 
this calling was in respect of inward fitness, and not of 
outward advantages. God prepares the heart of man for 
the reception of the Gospel — that is God's blessed plan 
of election. 



38 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 



LECTURE VI. 

November 2, 1851. 

1 Corinthians, iii. 1-10. — "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you 
as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. — 
I have fed you with milk, and not with meat : for hitherto ye were 
not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. — For ye are yet 
carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and 
divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men ? — For while one saith, 
I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? — 
Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye 
believed, even as the Lord gave to every man ? — I have planted, 
Apollos watered ; but God gave the increase. — So then neither is he 
that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth ; but God that 
giveth the increase. — Now he that planteth and he that watereth are 
one; and every man shall receive his own reward according to his 
own labour. — For we are labourers together with God : ye are God's 
husbandry, ye are God's building. — According to the grace of God 
which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the 
foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take 
heed how he buildeth thereupon." 

The two former chapters of this Epistle refer to St. 
Paul's ministry while at Corinth, where there existed a 
church made up of very peculiar elements. The first of 
these was Roman, and composed of freedmen, through 
whose influence society became democratic. The second 
element was Greek, refined, intellectual, inquisitive, and 
commercial, and this rendered the whole body restless, and 
apt to divide itself into parties. In addition to these was 
the Jewish element, which at this time had degenerated 
into little more than a religion of the senses. From all this 
there arose, first, a craving for an intellectual religion — 
appealing merely to taste and philosophical perceptions. But 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 39 

St. Paul refused to preach to them eloquently or philoso- 
phically, u lest the Cross of Christ should be made of none 
effect." St. Paul knew that the human heart often rests 
in eloquent expression of religious sentiment, instead of 
carrying it on into religious action. For strong feelings 
often evaporate in words. Strong expressions about self- 
sacrifice or self-denial, about a life sustained high above 
the world, often satisfy the heart and prevent it from 
rising to the grace talked about ; whereas Christianity is not 
a Creed but a Life, and men who listen to a preacher only 
to find an intellectual amusement, or pictures of an ideal 
existence, are not thereby advanced one step nearer to the 
high life of a Christian. 

Secondly. From the Jewish element there arose a 
craving for a religion of signs ; and St. Paul refused to teach 
by signs. He would not base Christianity upon miracles, 
or external proofs; because, truth is its own evidence, 
and the soul alone must be the judge whether a truth 
is from God or not Miracles address the senses, and the 
appetites of hunger and thirst ; and it were preposterous 
to say that the eye, the ear, or the touch can determine 
accurately of Divine truth while the soul cannot; that 
the lower part of our nature is an unerring judge, while 
the soul alone is not infallible in its decisions. For ee the 
natural man (understandeth) receiveth not the things of 
the Spirit of God : for they are foolishness unto him." 

" Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are 
perfect, yet not the wisdom of tins world, but the wisdom 
of God, which is hidden in a mystery." 

A third consequence of this peculiar constitution of 
Corinthian society was, its Party spirit. This arose out 



40 LECTUEES ON THE EPISTLES 

of its democratic character. Faction does not rend a 
society in which classes are indisputably divided beyond 
appeal, as is the case in Hindustan. Where superiority 
is unquestioned between class and class, rivalry will exist 
only between individuals. But where all are by social 
position equal, then there will be a struggle for superiority ; 
for in God's world there is not one monotony of plains with- 
out hills, nor a human society on one dead level of equality. 
There is an above and there is a below. There are angels, 
principalities, powers, there ; and here, orders, degrees, and 
ranks. And the difficulty in social adjudicature is, to 
determine who ought to be the leaders, and who are to 
be the led; to abolish false aristocracies, and to establish 
the true. Now, to say that this is what men aim at, is 
to say that dispute, faction, party spirit, animosity must 
exist till that real order is established which is called the 
Kingdom of God on earth ; in which each person is in his 
right place, and they only rule who are fit to rule. 
To-day, therefore, our subject will relate to this third 
consequence; and I shall speak of St. Paul's spiritual 
treatment of the Corinthian Church, in a state of faction. 

I. His economic management of Truth. 

II. His depreciation of the Human in the march of 
progress, by his manifestation of God in it. 

I. His economic management of Truth. 

I use this word, though it may seem pedantic, because I 
find no other to answer my purpose so well ; it is borrowed 
from the times of the early Christian Church: " Economic," 
when used in reference to the management of a household, 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 41 

means a frugal use of provision in opposition to extravagant 
expenditure. An economist apportions to each depart- 
ment the sum necessary, and no more. 

And in the spiritual dispensation of Truth, economy 
means that prudent distribution which does not squander 
it uselessly away, when it can do no good, but which 
apportions to each age, and to each capacity, the amount it 
can turn to good account. It implies a prudent, wise 
reserve. Now the principle of this we find stated in the 
second verse, " I have fed you with milk, and not with 
meat." And, although in its application some errors might 
be committed by withholding truths which should be 
granted, and by failing to distribute them at the required 
time, still the principle is a simple and a true one. For 
different ages, different kinds of food. For childhood, or 
" babes in Christ," milk. For them that are of full age, 
or who have the power of discerning both good and evil 3 
" strong meat." But reverse this, and the child becomes 
sick and fevered. And the reason of this is, that what 
is strength to the man is injury to the child — it cannot 
bear it. 

The doctrine which the Apostle calls " strong meat," 
if taught at first, would deter from further disciple- 
ship ; and Christ expresses the same thing. " No man 
putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, 
for the rent is made worse. Neither do men put 
new wine into old bottles, else the bottles break, and 
the wine runneth out." Now this, remember, was said 
immediately after the disciples of John had asked, why 
Jesus had not taught the same severe life (the type of which 
was fasting) which John had. And so, too, Christ did not 



42 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

preach the Cross to His disciples at first. The first time 
He did preach it, it shocked them. For it was not until 
after Peter's memorable acknowledgment of Him in these 
words, " Thou art the Christ," that He revealed to them 
His coming death, which, even then, resulted in a kind 
of revolt against Him, drawing from Peter the exclamation, 
Ci This be far from thee, Lord." 

Such a case of defection actually did occur in the beha- 
viour of the young Ruler, who forced, as it were, from 
Christ a different method of procedure. At first, Jesus 
would have given him mere moral duty. " Thou knowest 
the Commandments, Do not commit adultery, do not kill." 
But not satisfied with this, he asked for Perfection. 
** What lack I yet ? " And then there was nothing left 
but to say — " If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou 
hast and give to the poor, and come and follow Me." For 
observe, "strong meat" does not mean high doctrine such 
as Election, Regeneration, Justification by Faith, but 
es Perfection :" strong demands on Self, a severe, noble 
Life. St. Paul taught the Corinthians all the Doctrine he 
had to teach, but not all the conceptions of the Blessed Life 
w^hich he knew of. He showed them that leaving the 
principles of doctrine, they were to keep themselves in the 
Love of Christ, and be strengthened more and more with 
His Spirit in the inner man, growing up unto Him in all 
things. But all this by degrees. And so of the weak, 
we must be content to ask honesty : justice, not generosity, 
not to sell all, but simple moral teaching. 6i Thou knowest 
the Commandments." 

With a child, we must ask not sublime forgiveness of 
injuries : that which would be glorious in a man, in a boy 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 43 

would be pusillanimity; but you must content yourself 
at first with prohibiting tyranny. There is no greater 
mistake in education than not attending to this principle. 
Do not ask of your child to sacrifice all enjoyment for 
the sake of others, but let him learn first, not to enjoy at 
the expense of the disadvantage or suffering of another. 

Another reason for not neglecting this is, the danger of 
familiarizing the mind with high spiritual doctrines, and 
thus engendering hypocrisy ; for instance, Self-sacrifice, 
Self-denial, are large words, which contain much beauty, 
and are easily got by heart. But the facility of utterance 
is soon taken for a spiritual state, and while fluently talking 
of these high-sounding words, and of man's or woman's 
mission and influence, it never occurs to us that as yet we 
have not power to live them out. 

Let us avoid such language, and avoid supposing that 
we have attained such states. It is good to be temperate, 
but if temperate, do not mistake that for self-denial, nor 
for self-sacrifice. It is good to be honest, to pay one's 
debts ; but when you are simply doing your duty, do not 
talk of a noble life ; be content to say, " we are unprofit- 
able servants — we have done that which was our duty 
to do." 

The danger of extreme demands made on hearts unpre- 
pared for such is seen in the case of Ananias. These 
demands were not, as we see, made by the Apostles, for 
nothing could be wiser than St. Peter's treatment of the 
case, representing such sacrifice as purely voluntary, and 
not compelled. (i While it remained, was it not thine 
own; and after it was sold, was it not in thine own 
power?" But public opinion, which had made sacrifice 



44 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

fashionable, demanded it. And it was a demand, like 
strong meat to the weak, for Ananias was "unable to 
bear it." 

II. The second remedy in this factions state was to 
depreciate the part played by man in the great work 
of progress, and to exhibit the part of God. 

" Who, then, is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers 
by whom ye believed?" "Ye are God's husbandry, ye 
are God's building." In all periods of great social activity, 
when society becomes conscious of itself, and morbidly 
observant of its own progress, there is a tendency to 
exalt the instruments, persons, and means by which it pro- 
gresses. Hence, in turn, kings, statesmen, parliaments: 
and then education, science, machinery, and the press, 
have had their hero-worship. Here, at Corinth, was a 
new phase, " minister-worship." No marvel, in an age 
when the mere political progress of the Race was felt to be 
inferior to the spiritual salvation of the Individual, and to 
the purification of the Society, that ministers, the particular 
organs by which this was carried on, should assume in 
men's eyes peculiar importance, and the special gifts of 
every such minister, Paul or Apollos, be extravagantly 
honoured. No marvel either, that round the more pro- 
minent of these, partizans should gather. 

St. Paul's remedy was simply to point out God's part, 
"Ye are God's husbandry," we are only labourers — different 
only from wheels and pivots, in that they do their work 
unconsciously, we consciously. We execute a plan which 
we only slightly understand — nay, not at all, till it is com- 
pleted, like workmen in a tubular bridge, or men employed 
in Gobelin tapestry, who cannot see the pattern of their work 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 45 

until the whole is executed. Shall the hodman boast? 
Conceive the labourer saying of some glorious architecture, 
Behold my work ! or some poet, king, or priest, in view of 
some progress of the race, See what I have done ! Who 
is Paul, but a servant of Higher plans than he knows ? 
And thus we come to find that we are but parts in a 
mighty system, the breadth of which we cannot measure. 

And this is the true inspired remedy for all party spirit, 
" He that planteth, and he that watereth, are one." 
Each in his way is indispensable. To see the part played 
by each individual in God's world, winch he alone can 
play, to do our own share in the acting, and to feel that 
each is an integral, essential portion of the whole, not 
interfering with the rest ; to know that each church, each 
sect, each man, is co-operating best in the work when he 
expresses his own individuality (as Paul and Cephas, and 
John and Barnabas did,) in truths of word and action 
which others perhaps cannot grasp, that is the only 
emancipation from partizanship. 

Again, observe, St. Paul held this sectarianism, or parti- 
zanship, to amount virtually to a denial of their Christianity. 
For as Christians it was their privilege to have direct 
access to the Father through Christ; they were made 
independent of all men but the one Mediator Christ Jesus. 
Whereas this boast of dependence upon men, instead of direct 
communion with God, was to glory in a forfeiture of their 
privileges, and to return to the Judaism, or Heathenism, 
from which they had been freed. He says, (i While one 
saith I am of Paul, and another I am of Apollos, are ye 
not carnal and walk as men?" So that all sectarianism is 
slavery and narrowness, for it makes us the followers of 



46 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES 

such and such a leader. Whereas, says St. Paul, instead of 
your being that leader's, that leader is yours ; your minister, 
whom you are to use. For "All things are yours;" the 
whole universe is subservient to your moral being and 
progress. Be free then, and use them : do not be used by 
them. 

Remark, therefore, how the truest spiritual freedom and 
elevation of soul spring out of Christian humility. All 
this liberty and noble superiority to Life and Death, all this 
independence of Men, of Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, as 
their masters, arises from this, that " ye are Christ's, and 
Christ is God's ;" that ye, as well as they, are servants only 
of Christ, who came not to do His own will, but the Will 
of Him Who sent Him. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 47 



LECTURE VII. 

November 9, 1851. 

1 Corinthians, iii. 11-23. — "For other foundation can no man lay than 
that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. — Now if any man build upon this 
foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; — Every 
man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, 
because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's 
work of what sort it is. — If any man's work abide which he hath built 
thereupon, he shall receive a reward. — If any man's work shall be 
burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as 
by fire. — Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the 
Spirit of God dwell eth in you? — If any man defile the temple of 
God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which 
temple ye are. — Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you 
seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be 
wise. — For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is 
written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. — And again, The 
Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. — Therefore 
let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; — Whether Paul, 
or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life or death, or things present, 
or things to come; all are yours; — And ye are Christ's; and Christ is 
God's." 

As the last time we treated of the first ten verses of this 
chapter, to-day we shall go on to the end, merely recapitu- 
lating, beforehand, the leading subjects we were then led 
to enlarge upon ; which were, first — Paul's treatment of the 
Corinthian Church when it was in a state of schism, broken 
up into parties, one party following Apollos, attracted by 
his eloquence ; another Paul, attracted by his doctrine of 
Christian liberty ; another Peter, whom they looked on as 
the champion of the Judaistic tendency, while another 
called themselves by the name of Christ. And the schism 
which thus prevailed was no light matter, for it was 



48 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES 

not only a proof of carnal views, but it amounted also 
to a denial of Christianity. For men emancipated by 
Christ, and given direct access to God, to return again 
to allegiance to men, and dependence on them, was 
voluntarily to forfeit all Christian privileges. It is very 
interesting to observe the difference in St. Paul's treatment 
of the Corinthian Church from his treatment of other 
Churches. He says to them, " I have fed you with milk, 
for hitherto ye were not able to bear meat, neither yet are 
ye able." There is a remarkable difference between this 
Epistle to the Corinthians and that to the Ephesians. It 
is not in the former that we find the Apostle speaking of 
the breadth and length and depth and height of the love 
of Christ, which passeth knowledge ; nor there do we find 
him speaking of the beauty and necessity of self-sacrifice. 
These were subjects too high for them as yet, but instead 
we find him dealing almost entirely with the hard, stern 
duties and commandments of every-day life. 

St. Paul's twofold method of dealing with the Corinthian 
church in their state of faction was, — 

1. Through an economic reserve of Truth. 

By which we understood, that first principles only were 
distributed to feeble minds, to men who were incapable 
of the Higher Life ; that they were fed with these, in the 
same way as children, incapable of receiving meat, are 
nourished with milk. 

2. The depreciation of the Human, through the reduction 
of ministers to their true position; by pointing out that they 
were only labourers, servants in God's world, only a part 
of the curious clockwork of this world of His. Thus 
each would be a part of one great Whole, each would 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 49 

be called upon to work, as essential to this, but not 
to exhibit his own idea ; each would best preserve his 
own individuality, when most acting as a fellow-worker 
with God. 

Now observe! Here was a true notion of Christian 
unity as opposed to schism. " He that planteth, and he 
that watereth, are one." And this is the idea I have 
so often given you— unity in variety. St. Paul did not say 
you are wrong, you ought to be all of one way of thinking. 
No ; he said rather, there is one truth, the ritualistic truth, 
in St. Peter's and St. James's mind ; there is another, the 
truth of Christian Liberty, which I teach you ; there is 
another, the truth of grace and beauty in Apollos, and all 
together build up a Church. And he made use of two 
metaphors, drawn from agriculture and architecture. How 
foolish it would be to dispute about the respective merits of 
planting and watering ! Could there be a harvest without 
either ? How foolish to talk of the superiority of capital 
over labour, or labour over capital ! Could anything be 
done without both? And again, who would dream in archi- 
tecture of a discussion about the comparative importance 
of the foundation and the superstructure ! Are not both 
necessary to each other's perfection ? And so to dispute 
whether the Gospel according to St. Paul or St. James, is- 
the right Gospel, to call the latter " Straminca Epistola," is. 
to neglect the majestic entireness, and the unity of tha 
truth of God. And observe, St. Paul did not say, as many 
now would say, you must attain unity by giving up your 
own views, and each one holding the same. He did not say, 
Mine are right, and the followers of Apollos and Peter must 
follow me; but he said that, whatever became of their 

E 



50 LECTUEES ON THE EPISTLES 

particular views, they were to rejoice in this — not that they 
were Christians of a particular kind, but that they had a 
common Christianity. There was, and could be but One 
Foundation, and he who worked, whether as builder or 
architect, on this, was one with all the rest. The chapter 
concludes with — 

I. An address to ministers. 

II. To congregations. 

I. To ministers. " Let every man take heed, how he 
buildeth thereupon ; for other foundation can no man lay 
than that is laid, which is JesUs Christ." First, then, 
ministers are to preach as the foundation — Christ. 

Now, let us protest against all party uses of this express 
sion. The preaching of Christ means simply, the preach- 
ing of Christ. Recollect what Paul's own Christianity was. 
A few facts respecting his Redeemer's life, a few of his 
Master's precepts, such as " It is more blessed to give than 
to receive," out of which he educed all Christian principles, 
and on which he built that noble superstructure — his 
Epistles. Remember how he sums all up. " That I 
might know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and 
the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable 
unto His death." His Life, Death, and Resurrection, 
working daily in us, u being made manifest in our body." 
And again, " Ever bearing about in the body the dying 
of the Lord Jesus." Settle it in your hearts ; Christianity 
is Christ ; understand Him, breathe His spirit, comprehend 
His mind: Christianity is a Life, a Spirit. Let self die with 
Christ, and with Him rise to a life of holiness : and then, 
whether you are a Minister or ministered to, you need 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 51 

not care what discussions may arise, nor how men may 
dispute your Christianity, or deny your share in the 
Gospel. You 'stand upon a rock. 

Next, on this foundation we are to build the super- 
structure. Christianity is a few living pregnant principles, 
and on these you may construct various buildings. Thus 
in doctrine you may on this erect Calvinism, or Armi- 
nianism; or in ecclesiastical polity, you may build on 
this a severe, simple worship, or a highly ritual one, or an 
imaginative one with a splendid cultus. Or, hi life, you 
may live on this devotionally or actively ; you may pur- 
sue the life of the hermit of the third century, or of the 
Christian merchant of the nineteenth. For Christianity is 
capable of endless application to different circumstances, 
ages, and intellects. 

Now, in the words of this twelfth verse, observe that 
there are not six kinds of superstructure, but two. Gold, 
silver, and precious stones, which are the materials of the 
temple y wood, hay, and stubble, with which a cottage is 
erected ; but in these buildings the materials of each are 
of various degrees of excellence, and in the latter, good, 
bad, and indifferent. Now, what do these symbolize ? As 
I said before, perhaps doctrines or systems; but more 
probably they are to make us recollect that the Church 
is made up of persons of different kinds of character 
built up by different ministers. Some of straw, utterly 
worthless ; some of silver, sound, good, but not brilliant 
men; some of gold, characters in which there seems 
nothing of base alloy, true to the very centre ; some of 
precious stones, men in whom gifts are so richly mingled 
with useful qualities, that they are as jewels in the 

E 2 



52 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

Redeemer's crown. And such was the author of this 
Epistle. It does our heart good to know that out of our 
frail Humanity, anything so good and great has arisen 
as the Apostle of the Gentiles. 

Now there follows from all this, the doctrine of the 
rewardableness of Work. All were one, on the one founda- 
tion, yet St. Paul modifies this: they were not one, in 
such a sense that all their work was equally valuable, 
for u every man shall receive his own reward, according 
to his labour." It is incredible that the mere theologian 
defending the outworks, writing a book on the Evidences 
of Christianity, or elaborating a theological system, shall 
be as blessed as he, who has hungered and thirsted with 
Christ, and like Christ, suffered. " To sit on the right 
hand and on the left of the Father," can be given but 
to them who have drunk of Christ's cup of Self-sacrifice 
and been baptized with His Baptism of Suffering. Never- 
theless, each in his own way shall gain the exact recom- 
pence of what he has done. Therefore, Christian men, 
work on — your work is not in vain. A cup of cold 
water, given in the name of a disciple, shall not lose its 
reward. 

There is also here a distinction between the truth of 
work and its sincerity. In that day nothing shall stand 
but what is true ; but the sincere worker, even of untrue 
work, shall be saved ; " If any man's work shall be 
burned, he shall suffer loss : but he himself shall be 
saved ; yet so as by fire." Sincerity shall save him in that 
day, but it cannot accredit his work. But what is this day ? 
When is this day ? Generally speaking, we say that it is 
Time ; but more particularly the Trial day, which every 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 53 

advent is, and especially the last : in which nothing -will 
endnre but what is real. Nothing gilded or varnished will 
remain, but only precious stones, gold, silver; and these only 
so far as they are unmixed ; for just as fire burns straw, so 
must all that is not based on the Truth perish. Then the 
elaborate systems of theology, built by our subtle, restless, 
over-refined intellects, shall be tried and found worthless. 
Then many a Church order, elaborately contrived, shall be 
found something unnecessarily added to the foundation, and 
overlaying it. And then many a minister, who has prided 
himself on the number of his listeners, will be stripped of 
his vain-glory, if the characters, which he has produced, 
be found wanting ; if that which seems to be souls won for 
God, turns out to be only hearts won for self. Yet here a 
consolation is given to us, ee Yet he himself shall be saved, 
but so as by fire ;" and this is the comfort. Sincerity does 
not verify doctrine, but it saves. the man; his person is 
accepted, though his work perish. Hence we trust that 
many a persecutor like Paul shall be received at last ; that 
many a bigot like James and John, desiring to call down 
fire from heaven, shall obtain mercy, because he did it 
ignorantly. He shall be saved, while all his work shall 
be destroyed, just as, to use St. Paul's metaphor, a builder 
escapes from his house which has been burnt over his 
head, and stands trembling, yet safe, looking on his work 
in ruins, " saved, yet so as by fire." 

II. An address to congregations. 

1. A warning against all Ministers, who should so 
teach as to split the church into divisions. " Know ye not 
that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God 
dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, 



54 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, 
which temple ye are." 

Let us consider in what sense the word " holy " is used, 
The Bible often speaks of things, not as they are actually 
in themselves, but as they exist in God's Idea. So it 
declares of Humanity, that it is u very good ; " saying it of 
man, but not of men, who are often very bad. And so also 
the representation of the Church is a thing wholly ideal, 
" without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing ; " whereas, 
actual churches are infinitely below this ideal. Now observe 
that St. Paul calls all in the Corinthian church " holy," 
and this, though he knew that some were even incestuous — 
nay, though he says in the very verse where he calls them 
holy, that some might be defiled, and some destroyed. 
And hence it follows that we have no right to divide our 
congregations into regenerate and unregenerate, worldly 
and unworldly, Christian and un-Christian. Him who 
doeth this (e shall God destroy." Woe, therefore, to that 
minister, who by arbitrary distinctions respecting world- 
liness for instance, and unworldliness, so divides the Church 
of God ; making the religious into a party, often making 
sad hearts which God has not made sad, and nursing a set 
of Pharisees into a delusion that they are a Church of God, 
because they follow some Paul or some Apollos. 

2. A warning . against sectarianism, on the ground of 
Christian liberty. " Therefore let no man glory in men, 
for all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or 
Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, 
or things to come; all are yours." Man enters this 
world, finding himself in the midst of mighty Forces, 
stronger than himself, of which he seems the sport and 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 55 

prey. But soon Christianity reveals to him God's living, 
personal Will, which makes these things co-operate for 
his good. And so he learns his own free-will, and 
uses them as the sailor does the winds, which as he uses 
them become his enemies or his friends. 

Then it is that he is emancipated from the iron bondage 
to circumstances : then all things are his — this marvellous 
Life, so full of endless meaning, so pregnant with infinite 
opportunities. Still more, Death, which seems to come 
like a tyrant, commanding him when it will. Death is his 
in Christ, his minister to lead him to Higher Life. Paul 
is his, to teach him freedom. Apollos his, to animate him 
with his eloquence. Cephas his, to fire him with his 
courage. Every author his, to impart to him his treasures. 

But remark, that St. Paul refers all this to the universal 
Law of Sacrifice — All things are ours on this condition — 
that we are Christ's. The Law which made Christ God's 
has made us Christ's. All things are yours, that is, serve 
you : but they only discharge the mission and obey the law 
involuntarily that you are called on to discharge and obey 
voluntarily : the great law, which makes obedience Bles- 
sedness, the law to which Christ was subject, for Christ 
"was God's." So that, when the law of the Cross is the 
law of our being, when we have learnt to surrender our- 
selves ; then, and then only, we are free from all things : 
they are ours, not we theirs: we use them, instead of 
being crushed by them. The Christian is <: creation's 
heir." He may say triumphantly, " The world, the world 
is mine!" 



56 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 



LECTURE VIII. 

November 16, 1851. 

1 Corinthians, iv. 1-7. — "Let a man so account of us, as of the 
ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. — More- 
over it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful; — But 
with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of 
man's judgment ; yea, I judge not mine own self. — For I know 
nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth 
me is the Lord. — Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the 
Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of dark- 
ness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then 
shall every man have praise of God. — And these things, brethren, I 
have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; 
that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is 
written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. — 
For who maketh thee to differ from another ? and what hast thou 
that thou didst not receive ? now if thou didst receive it, why dost 
thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? " 

The fourth chapter, like the third, divides itself into two 
sections. From the first to the seventh verse, an address 
is given to a congregation. From the seventh to the end 
of the chapter, St. Paul addresses ministers. To-day our 
subject, comprised in the first six verses, is the true estimate 
of the Christian ministry. 

Now the Christian ministry may be either over-glorified 
or undervalued, and in correction of both these errors, St. 
Paul says, (i Let a man account of us as of the ministers of 
Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God." 

We consider then, 

I. The undue glorification of the Christian ministry. 

II. The depreciation of the same. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 57 

I. The Christian minister may be glorified or made an 
idol of in two ways, by party-worship of the man, or by 
attaching a mystical or supernatural power to the office. 

1st, then, by the worship of the man. This was the 
particular danger of the Corinthians, as we see distinctly 
stated in the 6th verse of this chapter. In pronouncing 
his judgment in this verse, St. Paul, with great delicacy, 
selects himself and Apollos for his instances, because 
there could be no suspicion of rivalry between them, for 
Apollos was of the same school of thought as himself. He 
speaks of his own party, and that of his friend, as worthy 
of censure, in order not to blame by name other parties and 
the sectarian disciples of other teachers in Corinth. And yet 
how natural ! Let us take these cases as specimens of all. 
Paul and Apollos each taught a truth, that had taken pos- 
session of their souls. St. Paul preached one, as we know, 
which he called "my Gospel," one peculiarly his own. 
Such is the case, too, with an inferior minister. Each 
man, each teacher, now as then, reveals to his hearers 
that truth which has most filled his own soul, and which 
is his peculiarly because it most agrees with his character. 
Well, this truth of his commends itself to kindred spirits 
in his congregation : it expresses their difficulties, it is a 
flood of light on many a dark passage of their history ; no 
wonder that they view with gratitude, and an enthusiasm 
bordering on veneration, the messenger of this blessedness. 
And no wonder that the truth thus taught becomes at 
last the chief, almost the sole, truth proclaimed by him. 
First, because every man has but one mind, and must, 
therefore, repeat himself. And, secondly, because that 
which has won attachment from his congregation, can 



58 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

scarcely be made subordinate in subsequent teaching with- 
out losing that attachment ; so that, partly for the sake of 
apparent consistency, partly to avoid offence, and partly 
from that conservatism of mental habits, which makes it so 
difficult to break through systems, ministers and congre- 
gations often narrow into a party, and hold one truth 
especially. And so far they do well ; but if they shall go 
on to hold that truth to the exclusion of all other truths, so 
far as they do that, it is not well; and nothing is more 
remarkable than the bitter and jealous antagonism with 
which party-men, who have reached this point watch all 
other religious factions but their own. And then the 
sectarian work is done ; the minister is at once the idol 
and the slave of the party, which he rules by flattering 
its bigotry, and stimulating its religious antipathies. 

Now St. Paul meets this with his usual delicacy, 
" These things I have in a figure transferred to myself and 
to Apollos for your sakes, that ye may learn in us not to 
think of men more highly than it is written, and that no 
one of you may be puffed up for one against another." And 
not for Corinth only, but for all who were, or should be, his 
brethren in Christ, did St. Paul transfer these things to 
Apollos and himself — for have I not given you a Home 
history? — the exact and likeliest history of many an 
English party, which began with a truth, and then called 
it the truth ; flattering one another, and being u puffed 
up for one against another," and manifesting that with 
all their high professions, they were (e carnal, and walked 
as men." But here let us observe the glorious unselfishness 
of this noble Apostle. Think you, there was no fire of 
ambition in his heart — that ardent, fiery heart? An Apostle, 



TO TEE CORINTHIANS. 59 

yes — but not exempt from temptation : with the feelings 
and passions of a Man ! Do you imagine he did not 
perceive, what is so evident to us, the opportunity within 
his grasp of being the great Leader in the Corinthian 
Church ? Think you that he knew nothing of that which 
is so dear to many a priest and minister in our day — the 
power of gaining the confidence of his people, the power of 
having his every word accepted as infallible ? 

Yet hear this sublime teacher. (i I am a minister, a 
steward only. Who is Paul? I dare not be a party- 
leader, for I am the servant of Him who came to make all 
one. He that water eth, and he that planteth, are all one — 
they, even those Judaizing teachers, who named themselves 
after Peter, are all servants with me of Christ." 

2nd, Another mode of undue glorification of the ministry: 
by attributing supernatural powers and imaginary gifts to 
the office. Now this mode was quite different, apparently, 
from the other ; so much so, as plainly to mark a party in 
the opposite extreme; and it was far more necessary to warn 
some men against this view, for many who would have 
refused submission to a Man, would have readily yielded it 
to an Office. Many will refuse obedience to one standing 
on his personal gifts, or party views ; but when one 
claiming the Power of the Keys, and pretending to the 
power of miraculous conveyance of the Eternal Spirit in 
Baptism, or pretending, in shrouded words of mystery, to 
transform the elements of bread and wine into the very 
Body and Blood of Christ ; or, declaring that he has an 
especial power to receive confession, and a miraculous right 
to forgive sins, therefore claims homage from the congre- 
gation ; then, grave men, who turn contemptuously from 



60 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

the tricks of the mere Preacher, are sometimes subdued 
before those of the Priest. And yet this is but the same 
thing in another form, against which St. Paul contended 
in Corinth ; for Pride and Vanity can assume different 
forms, and sometimes appear in the very guise of Humility. 
Power is dear to man, and for the substance, who would not 
sacrifice the shadow ? Who would not depreciate himself, 
if by magnifying his office he obtained the power he loved ? 

We have heard of Bernard, who, professing to be un- 
secular, yet ruled the secular affairs of the world. We 
have heard of men, who, cut off from human affections, 
and crushing them relentlessly, have resigned every endear- 
ment in life, who nevertheless reigned in their sackcloth with 
a power which the imperial purple never gave. Affecting 
to live apart from human policy, and human business, they 
spread their influence through every department of human 
thought and life, and government. To appear more than 
human, to seem a spiritual being, above their fellow- 
men ; for this, men formerly, as well as now, have parted 
with all that is best in our humanity, its tenderest affections, 
its most innocent relaxations, and its most sacred and kind- 
liest enjoyments. History affords innumerable examples of 
this. 

II. The depreciation of the Office. 

There is a way common enough, but not specially 
alluded to here, in which the Minister of the Church of 
Christ is viewed simply in connection with an Establish- 
ment as a very useful regulation, on a par with the 
institutions of the Magistracy and the Police. In this 
light the minister's chief duty is to lecture the poor, and 
of all the thousand texts which bear on political existence 



TO THE COEINTHIANS. 61 

to preach from only two, " Render unto Caesar the things 
which are Caesar's," and " Let every soul be subject to the 
higher powers," to be the treasurer and regulator of the 
different charitable institutions in the town and village, 
and to bless the rich man's banquet. Thus the office is 
simply considered a profession, and the common term 
"living" is the truest exposition of the dignity in which 
it is held. It is a "living" for the younger branches of 
noble houses, and an advance for the sons of those of a 
lower grade who manifest any extraordinary aptness for 
learning, and who, through the ministry, may rise to a 
higher position in social life. 

In this view a degrading compact is made between the 
Minister and Society. If he will not interfere with abuses, 
but leave things as they are : if he will lash only the vices of 
an age that is gone by, and the heresies of other churches : 
if he will teach, not the truth that is welling up in his 
own soul, but that which the conventionalism of the world 
pronounces to be the Truth — then shall there be shown 
to him a certain consideration; not the awful reverence 
accorded to the Priest, nor the affectionate gratitude 
yielded to the Christian minister, but the half-respectful, 
condescending patronage which comes from men, who 
stand by the Church as they would stand by any other old 
time-honoured Institution ; who would think it extremely 
ill-bred to take God's name in vain in the presence of a 
clergyman, and extremely unmanly to insult a man whose 
profession prevents his resenting indignities. 

Now it is enough to quote the Apostle's view, " Let a 
man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ," and 
at once you are in a different atmosphere of thought. 



62 LECTUEES ON THE EPISTLES 

These things are not essential to the position, for that 
may cease to be respectable. Society may annihilate a 
Church Establishment, but yet that which is essential in the 
office remains : the minister is still a minister of Christ, 
a steward of the mysteries of God, whose chief glory 
consists not in that he is respectable, or well-off, or 
honoured, but in that he serves, like Him, i( Who came not 
to be ministered unto, but to minister." 

Lastly, the office may be depreciated by such a view as 
these Corinthians were tempted to take. 

The Corinthians measured their teachers by their gifts, 
and in proportion to their acceptability to them. So now, 
men seem to look on the Ministry as an Institution intended 
for their comfort, for their gratification, nay, even for their 
pastime. In this way the preaching of the Gospel seems to 
be something like a lecture, professorial or popular ; a thing 
to be freely found fault with, if it has not given comfort, 
or shown ability, or been striking or original ; a free arena 
for light discussion and flippant criticism ; for, of course, 
if a man had a right to be an admirer of Paul, he had also 
to be a blamer of Apollos. 

Now see how St. Paul meets this. "With me it is a 
very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of 
man's judgment." He simply refuses to submit his autho- 
rity to any judgment ; and this you will say, perchance, 
was priestly pride, a characteristic haughtiness. Exactly 
the reverse, it was profound humility. Not because he 
was above judgment, not because he was infallible, or 
teaching truths too grand for them, but because he was to 
be judged before a tribunal far more awful than Corinthian 
society. Not by man would he be judged, because fidelity 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 63 

is the chief excellence in a steward, and fidelity is precisely 
that which men cannot judge. They can only judge of 
gifts, whereas the true dignity of the minister consists not 
in gifts, nor in popularity, nor in success, but simply in 
having faithfully used his powers, and boldly spoken the 
truth which was in him. 

St. Paul refuses even to pass judgment on himself. He 
says, "I know nothing by myself." In the common 
reading this passage would seem to mean, Whatever I 
know is not by myself, but by a Higher Power ; but what 
the translator meant, and as it would even now be under- 
stood by our north-countrymen, is this, " I know nothing 
against myself," " I am not conscious of untruth, or lack of 
fidelity." 

iS Yet " he goes on to say, iS am I not hereby justified : 
but He that judgeth me is the Lord." Here, then, is what 
St. Paul appeals to, for another Eye had seen, and He could 
tell how far the sentence was framed for man's applause ; 
how far the unpleasant truth was softened, not for love's 
sake, but simply from cowardice. Even the bold unpopu- 
larity, that cares not whom it offends, may be, and often 
is, merely the result of a contentious, warlike spirit, defiant 
of all around, and proud in a fancied superiority. But 
God discerns through all this, and sees how far inde- 
pendence is only another name for stubbornness; how 
even that beautiful avoidance of sectarianism is merely, 
in many cases, a love of standing alone ; a proud resolve 
not to interfere with any other man's ministry, or to allow 
any man to interfere with his. 

In applying this to our daily life, we must, then, 

1. Learn not to judge, for we do not know the heart's 



64 LECTUEES ON THE EPISTLES 

secrets. We judge men by gifts, or by a correspondence 
with our own peculiarities ; but God judges by fidelity. 

Many a dull sermon is the result of humble powers, 
honestly cultivated, whilst many a brilliant discourse arises 
merely from a love of display. Many a diligent and active 
ministry proceeds from the love of power. 

2. Learn to be neither depressed unduly by blame, nor, 
on the other side, to be too much exalted by praise. Life's 
experience should teach us this. Even in war, honours 
fall as by chance, with cruel and ludicrous injustice ; often 
the hero, whom the populace worship, is only made so by 
accident. Often the coronet falls on brows that least 
deserve it. 

And our own individual experience should teach us 
how little men know us ! How often when we have 
been most praised and loved, have we been conscious of 
another motive actuating than that which the world has 
given us credit for; and we have been blamed, perhaps 
disgraced, when, if all the circumstances were known, we 
should have been covered with honour. Therefore, let 
us strive, as much as possible, to be tranquil; smile 
when men sneer; be humble when they praise; patient 
when they blame. Their judgment will not last ; u man's 
judgment," literally " man's day," is only for a time, but 
God's is for Eternity. So, would you be secure alike 
when the world pours its censure or its applause upon 
you? feel hourly that God will judge. That will be 
your safeguard under both. It will be a small thing to 
you to be judged of any man's judgment, for your cause 
will be pleaded before the Judge and the Discerner of all 
secrets. 



TO THE COKINTHIANS. 65 



LECTURE IX. 

November 23, 1851. 

1 Corinthians, iv. 7-21. — "For who maketh thee to differ from 
another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if 
thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not 
received it ? — Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned 
as kings without us; and I would to God ye did reign, that we 
also might reign with you. — For I think that God hath set forth 
us the Apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a 
spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. — We are fools 
for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are 
strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised. — Even unto this 
present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are 
buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place : — And labour, working 
with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we 
suffer it; — Being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of 
the earth, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day. — I 
write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn 
you. — For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet 
have ye not many fathers : for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you 
through the Gospel. — Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of 
me. — For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my 
beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into 
remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach everywhere 
in every church. — Now some are puffed up, as though I would not 
come to you. — But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, 
and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the 
power. — For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. — 
What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in 
the spirit of meekness?" 

The former part of this chapter is addressed to congre- 
gations, in order that a right estimate may be formed by 
them of the ministerial office, which neither on the one 
hand ought to be depreciated, nor, on the other, to be un- 
duly valued. We have explained how St. Paul's view was 

F 



66 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

in opposition to all tendencies to worship the man, or to 
represent the Office as magical or mysterious ; and, on the 
other hand, his view was in direct opposition to all opinions 
which represent it as a creature and institution of the State^ 
or which value it only as a sphere for the exhibition of 
gifts and talents. And one definition sufficed the Apostle : 
" Let a man so account of us as the ministers of Christ and 
stewards of the mysteries of God." 

And in reference to that right, so liberally assumed, 
of passing judgment, of awarding praise and blame, of 
criticising individual ministers, the Apostle teaches that 
the same definition excludes this right, because of the 
impossibility of judgment; for all that a steward can 
have of merit is fidelity, and fidelity is exactly that 
which men cannot judge — it is a secret hidden with 
God. 

Now this sin of sectarianism was not imputable to the 
congregation only. It was also shared by their ministers. 
There were those who made themselves leaders of 
parties, those who accepted and gloried in adulation, those 
who unduly assumed mysterious powers, magnifying their 
office, that they might personally have that spiritual power 
which to most men is so grateful. 

And here again is shown the Apostle's singular delicacy. 
He names none of those leaders, none of those who were 
vain of their eloquence or gifts. He only speaks of 
those who were involuntarily raised to the headship of 
different factions: Christ, the Lord — Cephas — Apollos — 
and himself. " These things I have in a figure trans- 
ferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes: that 
ye might learn in us not to think of men above that 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 67 

which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one 
against another." That is, these are named for a general, 
not a specific purpose, that they might learn not to be 
puffed up for any minister. And just because the accu- 
sation is not special, therefore should it be universally 
applied. 

We gain nothing from this chapter if we simply learn 
the historical fact, that in Corinth there were certain 
parties and sects ; and that St. Paul blamed that of Apollos, 
and that of Cephas, and that likewise which had formed 
round himself; unless we learn also that there are parties 
amongst ourselves — one setting up the Church against 
the Bible, and another the Bible against the Church ; one 
calling itself the " Evangelical " party, par excellence, 
affixing special terms to the names of its reviews and 
magazines, as if no other publications deserved the name 
of Christian ; another party calling itself Si Anglo-Catholic," 
as though true Catholicity was not rather in spirit than in 
outward form; every party having its organ, its news- 
papers and reviews, full of faction and bitterness, and 
each branding the other with opprobrious names. And 
unless we learn that St. Paul would have blamed us, and 
taken our party spirit as a proof that we are " carnal, and 
walk as men," we gain nothing from the delicacy of his 
abstainino; from mentioning names that he might teach a 

o o o 

general principle. 

Another lesson, however, we gain. This is an anony- 
mous accusation ; but of that rare kind, that not the name 
of the accuser, but of the accused is suppressed. If all 
this were anonymous then, surely it should be so with us 
now. Our accusations should be personal, that is, directed 

F 2 



68 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES 

against ourselves, for the Apostle names himself. There 
should exist a readiness to see our own faults, and those of 
our own Party or Church; and not only the faults of 
other Parties or other Churches. 

However, though St. Paul does not name the men, he 
does not leave them unrebuked. He addresses them in a 
way that they would understand, and that all would under- 
stand for whom comprehension was necessary ; for, in 
ver. 7, he turns to those whom he had all along in mind : 
(i Who maketh thee to differ from another ? And what 
hast thou that thou didst not receive ? Now if thou didst 
receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received 
it ? " And having thus addressed himself particularly to 
congregations, St. Paul, in conclusion, speaks especially to 
ministers. 

The first principle that he lays down is — 
A warning to those who fostered the personal worship 
of the ministers — that is, of themselves. 

Secondly. To those who unduly magnified the office. 

I. To such as fostered a personal worship of the minis- 
ters. 

The qualities which are requisite for the higher part of 
the ministry are — great powers of sympathy; a mind 
masculine in its power, feminine in its tenderness ; hum- 
bleness; wisdom to direct; that knowledge of the world 
which the Bible calls the w T isdom of the serpent ; and a 
knowledge of evil which comes rather from repulsion 
from it than from personal contact with it. But those 
qualifications which adapt a man for the merely showy 
parts of the Christian ministry are of an inferior order : 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 69 

fluency, self-confidence, tact, a certain histrionic power of 
conceiving feelings, and expressing them. 

Now it was precisely to this class of qualities that 
Christianity opened a new field in places such as Corinth. 
Men who had been unknown in their trades, suddenly 
found an opportunity for public addresses, for activity, 
and for leadership. They became fluent and ready talkers; 
and the more shallow and self-sufficient they were, the 
more likely it was that they would become the leaders of a 
faction. And how did the Apostle meet this ? 

He had shown before that Christ was crucified in 
weakness. Now he shows that the disposition to idolize 
intellect was directly opposed to this — Christ the crucified 
was the Power of God. So far, then, as they taught or 
believed that the power lay in gifts, so far they made the 
Cross of none effect : " If any man among you seemeth 
to be wise " (i. e. has the reputation), " let him become a 
fool, that he may be wise." 

But he alleges two thoughts, in ver. 7, to check this 
tendency. Christian dependence : " Who maketh thee to 
differ?" Christian responsibility : " What hast thou, that 
thou didst not receive ? " 

This tendency, which the Apostle rebukes, besets us 
ever. Even at school, in the earliest stage of boyhood, 
we see that brilliancy is admired, whilst plodding industry 
is almost sure to be sneered at. Yet which of these two 
characters would St. Paul approve? Which shows 
fidelity? The dull mediocre talent faithfully used, or 
the bright talent used only for glitter and display? 
St. Paul, in the verse quoted, crushes vanity by reminding 
us of responsibility. His method is the true one, for we 



70 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

cannot meet vanity by denying gifts. If we or our children 
have beauty of person, have talents and accomplishments, 
it is in vain we pretend to depreciate, or to shut our eyes 
to them. 

St. Paul did not do this, for he acknowledged their 
worth. He said, i( Covet earnestly the best gifts." He 
did not sneer at eloquence, nor contemn learning ; but he 
said, These are your responsibilities. You are a steward : 
you have received. Beware that you be found faithful. 
Woe unto you if accomplishments have been the bait for 
admiration, or if beauty has left the mind empty, or even 
allured others to evil. Woe, if the gifts and manner, 
that have made you acceptable, have done no more. In 
truth, this independence of God is man's fall. Adam tried 
to be a Cause ; to make a Right ; to be separate from God ; 
to enjoy without God ; to be independent, having a will 
of his own : and just as all things are ours, if we be 
Christ's, so, if we be not Christ's, if the Giver be ignored 
in our enjoyments and our work, then all things are not 
ours : but pleasures are enjoyed, and gifts used in the 
way of robbery. Stolen pleasures ; stolen powers ; stolen 
honours ; all is stolen when " we glory as if we had 
not received." 

II. Warning to those who unduly magnified the office. 

There were men who prided themselves as being 
ministers : successors of the Apostles, who exercised lord- 
ship, authority, and reigned as kings over the congre- 
gations. 

The Apostle says, ei Now ye are full, now ye are rich." 
Be it so. How comes then the contrast ? " But God 
hath set forth us the Apostles last, as it were appointed to 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 71 

death; for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and 
to angels, and to men." Now place these two verses side 
hy side, and think, first of all, of these teachers — admired, 
nattered, and loaded with presents. See them first made 
rich, and then going on to rule as autocrats, so that when 
a Corinthian entertained his minister, he entertained his 
oracle, his infallible guide, still more, his very religion. 

And then, after having well considered this phrase, turn 
to contemplate the apostolic life as painted in this last 
verse. If the one be an Apostle, what is the other ? If 
one be the High life, the Christian life, how can the other 
be a life to boast of? 

Remark here the irony : <l Now ye are fall, now ye 
are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us." And 
again : " We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in 
Christ : we are weak, but ye are strong : ye are honour- 
able, but we are despised." It is in vain we deny these 
words are ironical. People who look upon Christianity 
as a mere meek, passive, strengthless, effeminate thing, 
must needs be perplexed with passages such as these, and 
that other passage, too, in Christ's lips : " Full well ye 
reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your 
own tradition." " Full well ! " How terrible the irony to 
call that well which was most ill! The truth is, that in 
Christ, — in the perfect Human Nature, — the manlier and 
more vigorous feelings and emotions did not undergo 
excision. Resentment, indignation, these are to be guided, 
controlled, not cut out. True it is, that in our practice 
they are nearly always evil; for does not indignation 
frequently become spite, and resentment turn to malice ? 
Nevertheless, they are both * integral parts of human 



72 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

nature. Our character is composed of these elements. 
In Christ they existed, how strongly ! But yet when 
He used them to rebuke living inert they are changed 
at once. He blighted Pharisaism with irony and terrible 
invective. But to the actual, living Pharisee, how tenderly 
did He express Himself ! " Simon, I have somewhat to say 
unto thee." Evil is detestable ; and the man who mixes 
himself with it is so far obnoxious to our indignation. 
But so far as he is a man, he is an object of infinite pity 
and tenderness. 

And in St. Paul's irony we remark somewhat of the 
same characteristics. It becomes even sarcasm if you 
will, but there is no shadow of a sneer in it. He who has 
never experienced the affectionate bitterness of love, who 
has never known how earnest irony, and passionate sarcasm, 
may be the very language of Love in its deepest, saddest 
moods, is utterly incapable of even judging this passion. 
And remark how gracefully it turns with him from loving 
though angry irony, to loving aspiration : " I would to God 
ye did reign." They were making this a time for triumph, 
whereas it was the time for suffering. And St. Paul says, 
I would the time for reigning were come indeed, for then 
we should be blessed together. Ye are making a noble 
time of it with this playing at kings ! Be it so. Would 
to God that it were not an anachronism ! Would to God 
that the time for triumph were come indeed, that these 
factions might cease, and we be kings together ! 

See, then, here the true doctrine of the apostolical 
succession. The apostolical office is one thing; the 
apostolical character, which includes suffering, is quite 
another thing ; often they are totally opposed. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 73 

And just as the true children of Abraham were not 
his lineal descendants, but the inheritors of his faith, so 
the true apostolical succession consists not in what these 
men pride themselves upon — their office, their theological 
attainments, their ordination, the admiration of their flocks, 
the costly testimonials of affection, which had made them 
" rich ; " but it consists rather in a life of truth, and in the 
suffering which inevitably comes as the result of being 
true. Let bishops, let ministers, let me ever remember 
this. 

Now, therefore, we can understand the passage with 
which he ends: " Wherefore, I beseech you, be ye followers 
of me." Only do not misread it. It might sound as if 
Paul were inviting them to become his followers instead of 
following Cephas or Apollos. But that would be to 
forget the whole argument. To say that, would have 
been to have fallen into the very error that he blamed, and 
to have opposed and contradicted his own depreciation of 
himself; to have denied every principle he had been 
establishing. No : you have here no mere partizan trying 
to outbid and outvie others ; it is not the oratory of the 
platform commending one sect or one society above 
another. 

Paul is not speaking of doctrine, but of life. He 
says that the life he had just described was the one 
for them to follow. In this — " Be ye followers of me," 
he declares the life of suffering, of hardship in the 
cause of duty, to be higher than the life of popularity 
and self-indulgence. He says that the dignity of a 
minister, and the majesty of a man, consist not in i( Most 
Reverend," or "Most Noble," fixed to his name; not in 



74 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

exempting himself from the common lot, and affecting not to 
mix with mean occupations and persons ; not in affecting 
that peculiar spirituality which is above human joys, and 
human pleasures, and human needs. But it lies in this, in 
being not superhuman, but human ; in being through and 
through a man, according to the Divine Idea: a man 
whose chief privilege it is to be a minister — that is, a 
servant, a follower of Him who " came not to be minis- 
tered unto, but to minister, and to give His Life a ransom 
for many." 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 75 



LECTURE X. 

THE CHRISTIAN IDEA OF ABSOLUTION. 

August lj 1852. 

2 Corinthians, ii. 10-11. — " To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive 
also : for if I forgave any thing, to -whom I forgave it, for your sakes 
forgave I it in the person of Christ. — Lest Satan should get an advan- 
tage of us : for we are not ignorant of his devices." 

In order that we may more fully understand the meaning 
of the sentence pronounced upon the Corinthian sinners 
by St. Paul, I have determined to enter on the question of 
absolution to-day, and have therefore deviated from the 
direct line of exposition, and taken a text from the Second 
Epistle, in which the principle of Christian absolution is 
fully comprised. 

In the First Epistle to the Corinthians St. Paul refers to 
a crime which had brought great scandal on their Church ; 
and it seems that, instead of being shocked, the Corinthians 
rather gloried in their laxity, or, as they called it, 
liberality. 

On the offender the Apostle had demanded that a severe 
punishment should fall. They were to " put away from 
themselves that wicked person." But in the interval 
which had elapsed between the two Epistles a great change 
had taken place. The Corinthians had obeyed, and that in 
earnest. Their indignation and zeal had been thoroughly 
roused, and the terrible treatment of society had wrought 
a deep remorse in the offender, which was threatening to 
pass into despair. 



76 LECTURES ON THE EriSTLES 

In this Second Epistle, therefore, he requires forgive- 
ness, he reverses his mode of treatment — ii. 6, 7. In the 
text he ratifies that forgiveness. Here, then, we are 
brought face to face with the fact of Christian Absolution. 
For, let us clearly understand : this forgiveness was not 
forgiveness of an offence against the Apostle, or against any 
man. It was not a debt, nor an insult — it was a crime. 
And yet though a crime against God, Paul says, " I 
forgive it, you must forgive it." He did not say, (l He 
must confess to God, perhaps God will forgive." Here 
there is evidently a sin against God forgiven by man. 
Here, then, is the fact of Absolution. 

This is our subject ; one which is a battle-ground 
between Romanists and Protestants. I shall not attempt 
to steer adroitly a middle course between Romanism and 
Protestantism, the first asserting an absolving power in 
the priesthood, the second denying it in every shape and 
form to any human being. I shall avoid that via media 
which, to timid minds, seems safe and judicious because 
not going into extremes, but which does yet, like all weak 
things, manage to embrace the evils of both, and the good 
of neither. But, as on other occasions, I shall try to seize 
that deep truth which lies at the root of both views, and 
which can alone explain the difficulties which beset the 
question. 

First, then — False conceptions respecting Absolution. 

Secondly. The Scripture principle on which it rests. 

I. The false conceptions. 

1. The first would be a denial in toto of the existence of 
such a power in any sense. There are, and were, men 
who might have objected to St. Paul as the scribes did to 



TO THE COEINTHIANS. 77 

his Lord — " Who is this that forgiveth sins also ? Who 
can forgive sins but God only ? " And observe there was 
much truth in that objection — Who can forgive sins but 
God ? And if a man may absolve another man, will not 
sin be committed easily and carelessly? Will not the 
salutary effect of dread and of uncertainty be done away 
with? How dangerous to remove the apprehension of 
punishment ! How fearful to send any one to a brother 
man instead of to God alone ! These are plausible diffi- 
culties, and in great part true. But still remember how 
Christ replied to that objection. He performed a miracle 
to show that as He could do the difficult thing — as He 
could say with power — " Arise, and take up thy bed and 
walk," so He could do the more difficult — i( Thy sins be 
forgiven thee." 

Now it is often said that by that miracle He proved His 
Godhead, that He took them at their word. " No one can 
forgive sins but God." See, then, I can forgive ; therefore 
I am God. But to read the passage so is utterly to lose 
the meaning. He did not say that He forgave as God. 
He expressly said that He forgave as man — i( That ye 
may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to 
forgive sins." He says nothing about the forgiveness by 
God in heaven. All He speaks of is respecting the 
power of forgiveness by man on earth. But whatever 
we may make of that passage, our text is one which 
cannot be twisted. We say, Christ forgave as the Messiah, 
not as Man ; He did not speak of a power belonging to 
any son of man, but to the Son of Man. Be it so : but 
here is a passage which cannot be so got over. His 
Apostle Paul, a son of man, uses words identical with 



78 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES 

His : "To whom ye forgive anything, I forgive." We are 
driven, then, to the conclusion that in some sense or other 
human beings have an absolving power. 

2. The second error is that which would confine this 
power to the Apostles. " St. Paul absolved — yes : but 
St. Paul was inspired; he could read hearts, and could 
absolve because he knew when penitence was real; but 
you must not extend that to men now." In reply to this 
observation, take two facts. 1. We have been denying for 
300 years that man's forgiveness can be in any sense an 
assurance of God's. We have fiercely, " like good Pro- 
testants," opposed any absolving power in man. What has 
been our success ? Surely it has been failure. We 
have said, " Go to God, He forgives." But men have 
not gained rest or peace by this. Out of the very ranks 
of Protestantism men and women are crying — " Absolve 
me from the weight of sin that I cannot bear alone." 
Shall we then, in rigid dogmatism, cruelly say, u There is 
nothing for you beyond this — Go to God," which we have 
said a thousand times ? or shall we say, " It is time to 
pause and ask ourselves what real truth lies at the bottom 
of this irrepressible desire. However Rome may have 
caricatured the truth, let us not fear to search it out ? " 

Again. Whether you will or not, this power is a fact ; 
for thus runs Christ's commission to His Church: "Whose- 
soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them ; and 
whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained." Say, if 
you will, that was a peculiar power, limited to the 
Apostles. Nevertheless, the fact cannot be controverted, 
that every day and every hour Society — man, exerts this 
power. For example: There are sins after committing 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 79 

which Society permits a return ; there are others in which 
Society is inexorable. In military life cowardice is branded 
with irrevocable infamy. Among women, another class of 
sins admits of no return. You are permitted by the world 
to defraud your tradesman ; debts may be " honourably 
contracted " which there is no ability of paying : but if a 
gambler shirks his " debts of honour," he has to fly dis- 
graced. And the results of this are clear. A man may 
be, in military life, dissipated, which is morally as bad as 
cowardice ; a woman may be selfish or censorious, or kill 
by bitter words ; and yet these are faults not made hope- 
less by Society : they leave room for other excellences — 
they do not blight character. But for a coward, or a 
" daughter of shame," once fallen, there is no return. 
Down, down, and deeper yet to the deeps of infamy, 
must one sink on whom Society has set its black mark. 

Here is a fearful exercise of power. The sins which 
Society has bound on earth are bound; the sins which 
Society has loosed, are thereby robbed of a portion of their 
curse. It is a power often wrongly used, but still an 
incontrovertible, terrific power. Even from unworthy 
lips these words, " We forgive," have an absolving 
power, like all our other powers, capable of perver- 
sion and misuse. And such a possibility the Apostle 
intimates here: "lest Satan should get an advantage 
over us." What he meant by this expression is told in 
the seventh verse. For he well knew how the sentence 
of Society crushes. He knew how it drives, first, into 
despondency, and how despondency seeks a temporary 
refuge in superstition, and how, that failing, the soul 
passes into infidelity, desperate and open. That might 



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82 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES 

had been shunned and shuddered at. Is it not certain, 
by the laws of our Humanity, that this judgment of 
Society would have seemed to him a reflection of the 
judgment of God, an assurance of coming wrath, a knell 
of a deeper doom? On the other hand, would not the 
forgiveness of the Corinthian society have caused the hope 
of God's forgiveness to dawn upon his heart, made it 
seem possible, and by degrees probable, actual, certain? 
And this in exact proportion, just as the men who so 
forgave were holy men. The more like God they were 
the more would their forgiveness be a type and assurance 
of God's forgiveness. And also this conviction would 
become stronger in proportion as this declaration was not 
the isolated act of one individual, which might seem to 
be personal partiality, but the act of many, of a society, 
a body, — of the Church. 

Let us show this historically. Throughout the ages, 
God has been declaring Himself, in His character of 
Absolver, Liberator, Redeemer. For the History of 
the Past has not been that of Man trying to express his 
religious instincts in institutions and priesthoods, but of 
God uttering Himself and His Idea through Humanity. 

1. Moses is called a Mediator in the Epistle to the 
Galatians. How was this? God sent Moses to deliver 
his people. il I am come to deliver them out of the hand 
of the Egyptians." " I will send thee unto Pharaoh." And 
Moses understood his commission. He slew an Egyptian, 
and he supposed that they would have understood that he 
was their liberator, that they would have seen in the 
human deliverer the Divine Arm. God was revealing 
Himself through Moses as the Avenger and Redeemer. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 83 

2. The Judges. — First of these came Joshua, whose 
name, originally Oshea, or Saviour, had Jah added to 
it to make this clear, that he was a deliverer in whom 
was to be seen the Unseen. A "Divine Deliverer,'* 
reminding the people that he was but the representative 
of One whose prerogative it is to break the rod of the 
oppressor. 

3. The Prophets. They developed another kind of 
deliverance, founded on no prescriptive authority, but 
only on the authority of Truth. They stood up against 
king and priest. They witnessed against kingcraft, priest- 
craft, against false social maxims, against superstitions, 
against all that was enslaving the Jewish soul. And 
how did they effect this deliverance? They proclaimed 
God as He is. Their invariable preface was this, " Thus 
saith the Lord." They fell back on deep first principles. 
They said, that "to do justice, to love mercy, to walk 
humbly with God," was better than praying, and fasting, 
and sacrifice. They revealed and declared the true 
Character of God, which had become incredible to the 
people through the false glosses It had received. And 
so the Prophet also was the deliverer of his people, 
loosing them from, not slavery, nor political oppression, 
but a worse bondage, the bondage which comes from 
ecclesiastical and civil institutions when they have ceased 
to be real. And thus did they once more exhibit to the 
world the absolving power of Humanity when it repre- 
sents accurately the Divine Mind and Character. 

One step farther. There is a slavery worse than all 
these ; the power by which the soul, through ignorance of 
God, is bound in sin. Now consider what the Scribes had 

a 2 



84 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES 

been doing ; they had reduced the teaching about sin to a 
science ; they had defined the nature and degrees of sins ; 
they had priced each sin, named the particular penance 
and cost at which it could be tolerated. And thus they 
had represented God as One who, for a certain considera- 
tion, might be induced to sell forgiveness, might be bribed 
to change His will, and forgive those whom He had in- 
tended to condemn. Therefore was One manifested Who 
represented the Divine Character without flaw ; in Whom 
the mediatorial idea was perfect, in Whom Humanity was 
the exact pattern and type of Deity, in Whom God appeared 
as the Deliverer in the highest sense, where every miracle 
manifested the Power to loose, and every tender word 
the Will to forgive ; Who established the true relation be- 
tween God and man, as being not that between a judge 
and a culprit, but as between a Father and a son. For 
once the Love of Man was identical with the Love of 
God; for once, Human forgiveness was exactly com- 
mensurate with the Divine forgiveness : therefore is 
He the one Absolver of the Race; therefore has He, 
because the Son of Man, "power on earth to forgive 
sins ; " and, therefore, every absolver, so far as he would 
free consciences and characters from sins, must draw his 
power out of that same Humanity. He can free only 
so far as he represents It, or as St. Paul expresses it 
here, " forgive in the person of Christ;" that is repre- 
sentatively, for "person" means the character sustained 
on a stage, which represents, or is a medium through 
which the one represented is conceived. 

In conclusion, let us make two applications. 

1. From the fact that the whole Corinthian Church 



TO THE COEINTHIANS. 85 

absolved, learn that the power of absolution belongs to 
every man as man — as et made in the image of God." It 
belongs in the highest degree to the man who most truly 
reflects that image, who most truly stands in the person of 
Christ. Are you a rigid Protestant, stiffly content with a 
miserable negative, sturdily satisfied to reiterate for ever, 
C( Who can forgive sins but God only ? " Well, remember 
first, that maxim of which you are so proud was used 
by the Scribes before you ; a superficial half-truth it is, in 
its depths false. Next remember, that, perhaps, every act 
of yours is proving the case against you. If you will not 
do by Love the absolving work of the Corinthian Church, 
you may by severity do the terrible, condemning work of 
the same Church in darkening the light of hope and of 
God in the souls of the erring. If you represent God as 
more severe under the Christian than under the Jewish 
dispensation, or if you represent Him as the Father of 
a certain section in consideration of their faith, their 
church-membership, their baptism, or in consideration 
of anything, except His own universal Love; or, if 
chiming in with the false maxims of society, you pass 
proudly by the sinful and the wandering ; then, so far 
as you have darkened the hope of any soul, though you 
may be saying loudly, " None can forgive but God ; " yet 
with a voice louder still, you will have demonstrated that 
even if you will disclaim your power to loose, you cannot 
part with your awful power to bind. 

2. Inasmuch as St. Paul absolved, let us learn the 
true principle of ministerial absolution. Humanity is the 
representative of Deity. The Church is the representa- 
tive of Humanity, the ideal of Humanity. The minister 



86 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES 

is the representative of the Church. When, therefore, 
the minister reads the absolution, he declares a Fact It 
does not depend on his character or his will. It is a 
true voice of man on earth echoing the Voice of God 
in heaven. But if the minister forgets Ms represen- 
tative character, if he forgets that it is simply in the 
name of Humanity and God, a in the person of Christ," 
if by any mysterious language or priestly artifices he 
fixes men's attention on himself, or his office, as con- 
taining in it a supernatural power not shared by other 
men; then, just so far, he does not absolve or free the 
soul by declaring God. He binds it again by perplexed 
and awe-engendering falsehood, and so far, is no priest 
at all; he has forfeited the priestly power of Christian 
Humanity, and claimed instead the spurious power of the 
priesthood of Superstition. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 87 



LECTURE XL 

November 30, 1851. 

1 Corixthiaxs, v. 1-13. — "It is reported commonly that there is forni- 
cation among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named 
among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. — And ye 
are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done 
this deed might be taken away from among you. — For I verily, as 
absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I 
were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, — In the 
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and 
my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, — To deliver such 
an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may 
be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. — Your glorifying is not good. 
Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? — Purge 
out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are 
unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: — 
Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the 
leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of 
sincerity and truth. — I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company 
with fornicators : — Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, 
or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must 
ye needs go out of the world. — But now I have written unto you not to 
keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or 
covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner ; 
with such an one no not to eat. — For what have I to do to judge them 
also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? — But 
them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among 
yourselves that wicked person." 

There is but one subject in this chapter on which I 
shall address you to-day — I mean St. Paul's judgment 
on the scandal which had befallen the Corinthian Church. 
The same case was treated before you last Sunday. I 
took the Absolution first, that we might be prepared for 



88 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

a sentence of great severity, and that we should not think 
that sentence was final. The whole of this chapter is an 
eloquent, earnest appeal for judgment on the offender. 

St. Paul's sentence was excommunication. " I have 
judged," he says, " to deliver such an one unto Satan." 
This is the form of words used in excommunication. The 
presiding bishop used to say, formally, " I deliver such 
an one unto Satan." So that, in fact, St. Paul, when he 
said this, meant — My sentence is, "Let him be excom- 
municated." 

Our subject, then, is Ecclesiastical Excommunication, 
or rather the grounds upon which human punishment 
rests. The first ground on which it rests is a repre- 
sentative one. " In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
when ye are gathered together, and my spirit with the 
power of our Lord Jesus Christ." There is used here, 
then, precisely the same formula as that in Absolu- 
tion. "For your sakes forgave I it, in the person of 
Christ." In this place, " person" is a dramatic word. 
It means the character sustained on the stage by one 
who represents another. So then, absolving "in the 
person of Christ," excommunicating " in the name of 
Christ," implied that Paul did both in a representative 
capacity. Remember, then, man is the image of God, 
man is the medium through which God's absolution and 
God's punishment are given and inflicted. Man is the 
mediator, because he represents God. 

If man, then, were a perfect image of God, his forgive- 
ness and his condemnation would be a perfect echo of 
God's. But in respect of his partaking of a fallen nature, 
his acts, in this sense, are necessarily imperfect. There 



TO THE COBIHTHIANS. 89 

is but One, He in whom Humanity was completely 
restored to the Divine Image, Whose forgiveness and 
condemnation are exactly commensurate with God's. 
Nevertheless, the Church here is the representative of 
Humanity, of that ideal man which Christ realised, and 
hence, in a representative capacity, it condemns and 
forgives. 

Again, as such, that is as representative, human 
punishment is expressive of Divine indignation. Strong 
words are these, " To deliver unto Satan." Strong, 
too, are those — " Yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, 
yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what 
revenge ! " And St. Paul approved that feeling. Now, 
I cannot explain such words away. I cannot say the 
wrath of God is a figurative expression, nor dare I say 
the vengeance of the Law is figurative, for it is a mistake 
to suppose that punishment is only to reform and warn. 
There is, unquestionably, another truth connected with 
it ; it is the expression on earth of God's indignation in 
Heaven against sin. St. Paul says of the Civil Magis- 
trate, "For he is the Minister of God, a revenger to 
execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." 

Doubtless, our human passions mingle with that word 
" vengeance." It is hard to use it, and not conceive of 
something vindictive and passionate. Yet the Bible uses 
it, and when our hearts are sound and healthy, and our 
view of moral evil not morbid and sentimental, we feel 
it too. We feel that the anger of God is a reality, an 
awful reality, and that we dare not substitute any other 
expression. There cannot be such a thing as perfect 
hatred of wrong, and unmixed love of the wrong-doer. 



90 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

He who has done wrong has identified himself with 
wrong, and so far is an object of indignation. This, of 
course, in infinite degrees. 

In our own day we are accustomed to use strange 
weak words concerning sin and crime: we say, when a 
man does wrong, that he has mistaken, the way to happi- 
ness, and that if a correct notion of real happiness could 
be given to men, crime would cease. We look on sin 
as residing, not in a guilty will, but in a mistaken under- 
standing. Thus the Corinthians looked on at this deed 
of iniquity, and felt no indignation. They had some soft, 
feeble way of talking about if. They called it "mental 
disease," "error," "mistake of judgment," "irresistible 
passion," or I know not what. 

St. Paul did feel indignation; and which was the 
higher nature, think you? If St. Paul had not been 
indignant, could he have been the man he was? And 
this is what we should feel ; this it is which, firmly seated 
in our hearts, would correct our lax ways of viewing 
injustice and our lax account of sin. 

Observe, the indignation of Society is properly repre- 
sentative of the indignation of God. I tried last Sunday* 
to show how the absolution of Society looses a man from 
the weight of sin, by representing and making credible 
God's forgiveness — how it opens to him hope and the path 
to a new life. Now, similarly, see how the anger of Society 
represents and makes credible God's wrath. So long as 
the Corinthians petted this sinner, conscience slumbered ; 
but when the voice of men was raised in condemnation, 

* This subject is also treated of in a Sermon on "Absolution," which 
is published in the third volume of Mr. Eobertson's Sermons. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 91 

and lie felt himself everywhere shunned, conscience 
began to do its dreadful work, and then their anger 
became a type of coming doom. Remember, therefore, 
there is a real power lodged in Humanity to bind as well 
as to loose; and remember that Man, God's representative, 
may exercise this fearful power wrongly, too long, and 
too severely in venial faults, yet there is still a power, a 
terrible human power, which may make outcasts, and 
drive men to infamy and ruin. Whosesoever sins we 
bind on earth, they are bound. 

Only, therefore, so far as man is Christ-like, can he 
exercise this power in an entirely true and perfect manner. 
The world's excommunication or banishment is almost 
always unjust, and that of the nominal Church more or 
less so. 

The second ground on which human punishment rests 
is the reformation of the offender. " That the spirit may 
be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." 

Of all the grounds alleged for punishment, that of 
(i an example to others " is the most heartless and the 
most unchristian. In Scripture I read of two principal 
objects of punishment : — first, that which has been given 
already — punishment as an expression of righteous indig- 
nation; the other, the amelioration of the sinner, as is 
expressed in the above verse. And here the peculiarly 
merciful character of Christianity comes forth: the Church 
was never to give over the hope of recovering the fallen. 
Punishment, then, here is remedial. If Paul punished, it 
was "that the spirit might be saved in the day of the 
Lord Jesus." And hence (putting capital punishment 
out of the present question) to shut the door of repent- 



92 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

ance upon any sin, to make outcasts for ever, and thus 
to produce despair, is contrary to the idea of the Church 
of Christ, and alien from His Spirit. And so far as 
Society does that now, it is not Christianised, for Chris- 
tianity never sacrifices, as the world-system does, the 
individual to the Society. Christianity has brought 
out strongly the worth of the single soul. Let us not, 
however, in treating of this subject, overstate the matter, 
for it would be too much to say that example is never a 
part of the object of punishment. Perhaps of the highest 
Christian idea of punishment it is not. Yet in societies, 
where, as the spirit of the old world still lingers, 
Christianity can never be fully carried out, it must be 
tolerated. For example, the army is a society which 
is incompatible with the existence of Christianity in its 
perfection. And here, too, we learn to look with an 
understanding eye at what else we must blame. When 
we censure the sanguinary laws of the past, we must 
remember that they did their work. And even now, 
the severe judgments and animadversions of Society 
have their use. Christian they are not, worthy of a 
Society calling itself Christian they are not; but as the 
system of a Society only half Christian, such as ours, 
they have their expediency. Individuals are sacrificed, 
but Society is kept comparatively pure, for many are 
deterred from wrong-doing by fear, who would be 
deterred by no other motive. 

The third ground is the contagious character of evil. 
" A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." Observe, 
the evil was not a matter of example, but contagion. 
Such an one as this incestuous man — wicked, impenitent, 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 93 

and unpunished — would infect the rest of the Church. 
Who does not know how the tone of evil has communi- 
cated itself? Worldly minds, irreverent minds, licentious 
minds leaven Society. You cannot be long with persons 
who by innuendo, double meaning, or lax language, show 
an acquaintance with evil, without feeling in some degree 
assimilated to them, nor can you easily retain enthusiasm 
for right amongst those who detract and scoff at goodness. 
None but Christ could remain with the impenitent and be 
untainted; and even where repentance has been deeply 
felt, familiarity with some kinds of vice unfits a man for 
association with his fellow men. A penitent man should 
be forgiven; but unless you can ensure the removal of 
the mental taint, it does not follow that he is fit for safe 
intimacy. Perhaps, never in this world again ; and it 
may be part of his terrible discipline here, which we 
would fain hope is remedial, not penal, to retain the 
stamp of past guilt upon his character, causing him to 
be avoided, though forgiven. 

The fourth ground was, Because to permit this would 
be to contradict the true idea of the Church of Christ, 
" Ye are unleavened." This is the idea of the Church of 
Christ, a body unleavened with evil, and St. Paul uses 
a metaphor taken from the Paschal Feast. It was eaten 
with unleavened bread, and every Jewish family scru- 
pulously removed every crumb of leaven from the house 
before it began. In like manner, as that feast was eaten 
with no remnant of the old leaven, so is our Christian 
jubilee to be kept. All the old life has passed away. We 
may say, as Paul said of the Corinthians, "Ye are un- 
leavened." A new start, as it were, has been given to 



94 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES 

you in Christ; you may begin afresh for life. Here, 
then, is the true conception of the Church: regenerated 
Humanity, new life without the leaven of old evil. 

Let us distinguish, however, between the Church visible 
and invisible. The Church invisible is " the general 
assembly and Church of the First-born " spoken of in 
Hebrews, xii. v. 23. It is that Idea of Humanity which 
exists in the Mind of God : such as Paul described 
the Church at Ephesus; such as no Church ever really 
was ; such as only Christ of men has ever been ; but 
such as every Church is potentially and conceivably.* 
But the Church visible is the actual men professing 
Christ, who exist in this age, or in that : and the Church 
visible exists, to represent, and at last to realise, the 
Church invisible. In the first of these senses, the Apostle 
describes the Corinthian Church as " unleavened ; " i. e. 
he says, that is the idea of your existence. In the second 
sense, he describes them as they are, " puffed up, con- 
tentious, carnal, walking as men." 

Now, for want of keeping these two things distinct, 
two grave errors may be committed. 

1. Undue severity in the treatment of the lapsed. 

2. Wrong purism in the matter of association with the 
world, its people, its business, and its amusements. 

Into the first of these the Corinthians afterwards were 
tempted to fall, refusing reconciliation with the sinner. Into 
this the Church did fall, for a period, in the third century, 
when Novatian, laying down the axiom that the actual 
state of the Church ought to correspond with its ideal — 
in fact, declaring that the Idea of the Church was its 
* See Mr. Robertson's Sermon on " The Victory of Faith," Volume ILL 



TO THE C0K1NIHTANS. 95 

actual state — very consistently with this false definition, 
demanded the non-restoration of all who had ever lapsed. 

But the attempt to make the Church entirely pure 
must fail: it is to be left to a higher tribunal. Such 
an attempt ever has failed. The parable of the wheat 
and the tares makes it manifest that we cannot eradi- 
cate evil from the Church without the danger of de- 
stroying good with it. Only, as a Church visible, she 
must separate from her all visible evil, she must sever 
from herself all such foreign elements as bear unmistake- 
able marks of their alien birth. She is not the Church 
invisible, but she represents it. Her purity must be 
visible purity, not ideal : representative, not perfect. 

The second error was a misconception, into which, 
from the Apostle's own words, it was easy to fall; an 
over rigorous purism, or puritanism. 

The Corinthians were to separate from the immoral; 
but in a world where all were immoral, how was this 
practicable ? Should they buy no meat because the seller 
was a heathen? nor accept an invitation from him, nor 
transact business with him, because he was an idolater ? 

Against an extension of this principle he sedulously 
guards himself, hi the ninth and tenth verses. Paul says 
to them, You are not to go out of the world, only take 
care that you do not recognise such sinners by associ- 
ating with them as brothers, or as fulfilling, in any 
degree, the Christian idea. Indeed, afterwards, he tells 
them they were free to purchase meat which had been 
used in heathen sacrifices, and he contemplates the possi - 
bility of then: accepting invitations to heathen entertain- 
ments. 



96 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

Lastly, let us apply the principles we have now gained 
to practical life as at present existing: let us see the 
dangerous results of that exclusiveness which affects the 
society of the religious only. 

The first result that follows is the habit of judging. 
For, if we only associate with those whom we think 
religious, we must decide who are religious, and this 
becomes a habit. Now, for this judgment, we have 
absolutely no materials. And the life of Christ, at least, 
should teach us that the so-called religious party are 
not always God's religious ones. The publicans and 
the harlots went into the kingdom of Heaven before the 
Pharisees. 

And the second result is censoriousness ; for we must 
judge who are not religious, and then the door is opened 
for the slander, and the gossip, and the cruel harshness, 
which make religious cliques worse even than worldly 
ones. 

And the third result is spiritual pride; for we must 
judge ourselves, and so say to others, " I am holier than 
thou." And then we fall into the very fault of these 
Corinthians, who were rejoicing, not that they were 
Christians, but Christians of a peculiar sort, disciples of 
Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas. Had they been contented 
to feel that they had a common salvation — that they 
had been named by the same Name, and redeemed by 
the same Sacrifice — vanity had been impossible, for we 
are only vain of that wherein Ave differ from others. So 
we, too often rejoicing in thin distinctions, "they" — and 
"we," fall into that sin, almost the most hopeless of all 
sins, — spiritual pride. 



TO THE COItfNTHIAIJS. 97 



LECTURE XII. 

December 7, 1851. 

1 Corinthians, vi. 1-12. — "Dare any of you, having a matter against 
another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? — Do 
ye not know that the saints shall judge the world ? and if the world 
shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 
— Know ye not that we shall judge angels ? how much more things 
that pertain to this life ? — If then ye have judgments of things 
pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the 
church. — I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise- 
man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his- 
brethren? — But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the 
unbelievers. — Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, 
because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take 
wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? — Nay, 
ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren. — Know ye not that 
the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God ? Be not deceived: 
neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor 
abusers of themselves with mankind, — Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor 
drunkards, cor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of 
God. — And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are 
sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by 
the Spirit of our God. 

This Epistle to the Corinthians differs from the other 
Epistles of St. Paul in this, that instead of being one 
consecutive argument on connected subjects, it deals with 
a large variety of isolated questions which the Corinthian 
Church had put to him on some previous occasion. Hence 
this Epistle is one of Christian Casuistry, or the appli- 
cation of Christian principles to the various circumstances 

H 



98 LECTUEES ON THE EPISTLES 

and cases of conscience which arise continually in the 
daily life of a highly civilized, and highly artificial 
community. 

This chapter, the sixth, contains the Apostle's judgment 
on two such questions. 

L The manner of deciding Christian quarrels. 

II. The character of Christian liberty, what is meant by 
it, and how it is limited. 

Of the first of these only I shall speak to-day, and the 
subject ranges from the first to the twelfth verse. 

I. The manner of deciding Christian quarrels. 

It appears from this account that questions arose among 
the Corinthian Christians which needed litigation: ques- 
tions of wrongs done to persons or to property. Of the 
former of these we have already met one in the fifth 
chapter. These wrongs they carried to the heathen 
courts of judicature for redress. For this the Apostle 
reproves them severely, and he assigns two reasons for 
his rebuke: — 

1. He desired a power in the Church to decide such 
difficulties for itself. These questions should be tried 
before " the saints," that is, by Church judicature ; and 
to support this opinion he reminds them that " the saints 
shall judge the world." Let us understand this phrase. 
Putting aside all speculations, we are all agreed on this, 
and we are drawn to a recollection of it by this Advent 
time, that this Earth shall be one day a Kingdom of God. 
We cannot tell how it may be consummated, whether, as 
some think, by a Miraculous and Personal Coming, or, 
as others hold, by the slow evolving, as ages pass, of 
Christian principles; by the gradual development of the 



TO THE COBINTHIANS. 99 

mustard seed into a tree, and of the leaven throughout 
the meal. But this, unquestionably, is true, Human 
Society shall be thoroughly christianized. ee The kingdoms 
of this world shall become the kingdoms of the Lord and 
of His Christ." Legislation shall be Christian legislation. 
Law shall not then be a different tiling from equity. And 
more, a time is coming when statute law shall cease, and 
self-government and self-control shall supersede all out- 
ward or arbitrary law. That will be the reign of the 
saints. 

Let me then pause and examine the principles, as they 
are declared in Scripture, of this Kingdom which is to be. 
"The saints shall judge." The first principle, then, 
of the kingdom is the Supremacy of Goodness. It is by 
holiness that the Earth shall be governed hereafter. For 
the word "judge" in this verse is used in the same sense 
as it is used of Deborah and Barak, and others who 
judged or ruled Israel. So here it does not mean that 
the saints shall be assessors with Christ at the day of 
judgment, but that they shall rule the world. Successively 
have force, hereditary right, talent, wealth been the 
aristocracies of the Earth. But then, in that Kingdom 
to come, goodness shall be the only condition of supre- 
macy. That is implied in this expression, " The saints 
shall judge." 

The second principle is that the best shall rule. 
"The Apostles shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the 
twelve tribes of Israel. Now, take that literally, and you 
have nothino; more than a cold barren fact. You lose 
your time in investigating theories about thrones, and the 
restoration of the ten tribes, and the future superiority of 

E 2 



LofO 



100 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

the Jews. But take it in the spirit of the passage, and it 
means, and typically expresses, that in that Kingdom the 
best shall rule. 

The third principle is, that there each shall have his 
place according to his capacity. In 1 Cor. xii. 28, this is 
plainly laid down. Each man took his position in the 
Church of Christ, not according to his choice, but accord- 
ing to his charism or his gift. A man did not become a 
prophet, or a teacher, or an apostle, simply because it 
was his own desire, or because it was convenient for his 
parents so to bring him up, but because God had placed 
him there from his capacity for it. Observe here was a 
new principle. Each man was to do that for which he 
was most fitted. So in the Kingdom to come we shall not 
have the anomalies which now prevail. Men are minis- 
ters now who are fit only to plough ; men are hidden now 
in professions where there is no scope for their powers ; 
men who might be fit to hold the rod of empire are now 
weaving cloth. But it shall all be altered there. I do 
not presume to say how this is to be brought about. I 
only say the Bible declares it shall be so ; and until it is 
so the Kingdom of God is only coming, and not come. 
The Advent of the Saviour is yet to be expected. 

These are the things that must be hereafter. And it 
is only in such a belief that human life becomes tolerable. 
For a time arrives when our own private schemes have 
failed, and for us there remains little to be either feared or 
hoped. At that time of life a man begins to cast his eyes 
on the weltering confusion of this world, its wrongs, its 
injustices, its cruel anomalies ; and if it were not for a 
firm and deep conviction that there is a better future for 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 101 

the Race, that the Son of God will come to the restitution 
of all things, who could suffer being here below ? 

But to return to the case before us. St. Paul argues, 
this is the future destiny of the Church. Are these prin- 
ciples, then, to be altogether in abeyance now? Is this 
Advent to be only a sickly dream without any connection 
with Life, or is it not rather to be the shaping spirit of 
Life ? In the highest spiritual matters the Church shall 
decide hereafter. Therefore in questions now of earthly 
matters, such as in petty squabbles about property, the 
least esteemed Christian among you should be able to 
decide. " I speak to your shame ; " where are your 
boasted Christian teachers? Can they not judge in a 
matter of paltry quarrel about property? 

Let us not, however, mistake the Apostle. Let us 
guard against a natural misconception of his meaning. 
You might think that St. Paul meant to say that the 
Corinthians should have ecclesiastical instead of civil 
courts; and for this reason, that churchmen and clergy 
will decide rightly by a special promise of guidance, and 
heathen and laymen wrongly. But this has not to do 
with the case under consideration. It is not a question 
here between ecclesiastical and civil courts, but between 
Law and Equity, between Litigation and Arbitration. 
No stigma is here affixed, or even implied, on the fair- 
ness of the heathen magistracy. The Roman Govern- 
ment was most just and most impartial. St. Paul only 
means to say that Law is one thing, Equity another. 
The principles of heathen law were not Christian. Here 
Ave meet with the difficulty, then, how far Christianity 
deals with questions of property, politics, or those quarrels 



102 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

of daily life which require legal interference. A man 
asked Christ, " Master, speak to my brother that he 
divide the inheritance with me." And the Saviour 
refused to adjudicate : " Man, who made me a ruler and 
judge over you?" Yet here St. Paul requires the Chris- 
tian Church to pronounce a judgment. The Redeemer 
seems to say, Christianity has nothing to do with deciding 
quarrels : let them be tried before the appointed judge. 
St. Paul seems to say Christianity has everything to do 
with it; go not before the magistrate. Contradictory 
as these two statements appear, there is no real oppo- 
sition between them. Christ says, not even the Lord 
of the Church has power as a Judge to decide ques- 
tions about earthly property. St. Paul says, the Church 
has Principles, according to which all such matters may 
be set at rest. And the difference between the worldly 
court of justice and the Christian court of arbitration is 
a difference then of diametrical opposition. Law says you 
shall have your rights; the spirit of the true Church says, 
defraud not your neighbour of his rights. Law says you 
must not be wronged; the Church says, it is better to 
suffer wrong than to do wrong. 

We cannot, then, but understand that the difference is 
one of utter contrariety ; for the spirit in the one case is, 
I will receive no wrong — in the other, I will scrupulously 
take care to do none. In application of this princij)le, the 
Apostle says : " Now, therefore, there is utterly a fault 
among you, because ye go to law one with another." As 
though he had said that state of society is radically wrong 
in which matters between man and man must be decided 
by law. In such a state the remedy is, not more elaborate 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 10 

law, nor cheaper law, nor greater facility of law, but more 
Christianity : less loud cries about (i Rights," more earnest 
anxiety on both and all sides to do no wrong. For this, 
you will observe, was in fact the Apostle's ground : u Now 
therefore there is utterly a fault amono; you, because ye 
go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take 
wrong? — why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be 
defrauded ? Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your 
brethren." He leaves the whole question of arbitration 
versus law, and strikes at the root of the matter. * Why do 
ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer 
yourselves to be defrauded ? " Why so ? Because to bear 
wrong, to endure — that is Christianity. Christ expressed 
this in proverbial form : " If a man smite thee on the one 
cheek, turn to him the other." " If any man sue thee at 
the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak 
also." And now consider: Is there, can there be any 
principle but this which shall at last heal the quarrels of 
the world ? For while one party holds out as a matter 
of principle, the other appeals to law, and both are well 
assured of their own rights, what then must be the end ? 
" If ye bite and devour one another," says St. Paul, 
'•'take heed that ye be not devoured one of another." 
Whereas, if we were all christianized, if we were all 
ready to bear and endure injuries, law would be need- 
less — there would be no cry of "my rights, my rights." 
You will say, perhaps — But if we bear, we shall be 
wronged. You forget, I say if all felt thus, if the spirit 
of all were endurance, there would be no wrong. 

And so, at last, Christianity is finality. The world has 
no remedy for its miseries but the cure of its selfishness. 



104 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

The Cross of Christ, the spirit of that Sacrifice can alone 
be the regeneration of the world. The coming Revelation 
can only be a development of the last, as Christianity was 
of Judaism. There can be no new Revelation. "Other 
foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is 
Jesus Christ." Men have attempted to produce a peace- 
ful and just state of society by force, by law, by schemes 
of socialism; and one after another all have failed: — all 
must fail. There remains, then, nothing but the Cross 
of Christ, the Spirit of the life and death of Him who 
conquered the world by being the Victim of its sin. 

2. The last reason given by the Apostle in rebuking a 
litigious and quarrelsome disposition in the Corinthian 
Christians is that it contradicts the character of the 
Kingdom of God, of which they were members. A true 
kingdom of Christ should be altogether free from persons 
of this character. His argument runs thus: — You ask 
me how quarrels are to be decided, except by law; how 
the oppressed are to be freed from gross oppressors, 
except by an appeal to legal justice ; how flagrant 
crimes — such as that condemned in the fifth chapter — 
are to be prevented in Christians? I answer, the 
Church of Christ does not include sucli persons in the 
Idea of its existence at all. It only contemplates the 
normal state ; and this is the Idea of the Church of 
Christ: men "washed, sanctified, justified in the name of 
the Lord Jesus, and by the spirit of our God." But 
drunkards, revilers, extortioners, covetous men, gross 
sensualists, I cannot tell you how to legislate for such, for 
such ought not to be in your society at all. Regenerate 
thieves, regenerate libertines, regenerate extortioners ! 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 105 

There is a horrible contradiction in the very thought ; 
there is something radically wrong, when such men, 
remaining in their vices, are imagined as belonging to the 

O ' O ~ CD 

true kingdom of God. This is what you were as heathens; 
this is not what you are to be as Christians. 

And here you observe, as usual, that the Apostle returns 
again to the great Idea of the Church of God, the invisible 
Church, Humanity as it exists in the Divine mind ; this 
is the standard he ever puts before them. He says, This 
you are. If you fall from this, you contradict your 
nature. And now consider how opposite this, St. Paul's 
way, is to the common way of insisting on man's de- 
pravity. He insists on man's dignity: he does not say to 
a man, You are fallen, you cannot think a good thought, 
you are half beast, half devil, sin is alone to be expected 
of you, it is your nature to sin. But he says rather, it 
is your nature not to sin; you are not the child of the 
devil, but the child of God. 

Brother men — between these two systems you must 
choose. One is the system of St. Paul and of the Church 
of England, whose baptismal service tells the child that 
he is a child of God — not that by faith or anything else 
he can make himself such. The other is a system common 
enough amongst us, and well known to us, which begins 
by telling the child he is a child of the devil, to become, 
perhaps, the child of God. You must choose : you can- 
not take both; will you begin from the foundation Adam 
or the foundation Christ ? The one has in it nothing but 
what is debasing, discouraging, and resting satisfied with 
low attainments; the other holds within it all that is 
invigorating, elevating, and full of hope. 



106 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 



LECTURE XIII. 

December 14, 1851. 

1 Corinthians, vi. 12-20. — "All things are lawful unto me, but all 
things are not expedient : all things are lawful for me, but I will not 
be brought under the power of any. — Meats for the belly, and the belly 
for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is 
not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. — And 
God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his 
own power. — Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? 
shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members 
of an harlot? God forbid. — What? know ye not that he which is 
joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. — 
But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. — Flee fornication. 
Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that com- 
mitteth fornication sinneth against his own body. — What ? know 
ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in 
you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? — For ye are 
bought with a price : therefore glorify God in your body, and in your 
spirit, which are God's." 

We have divided this chapter into two branches, the first 
relating to the right method of deciding Christian quarrels. 
Our subject last Sunday was the sin of a litigious spirit, 
and this I endeavoured to show in a twofold way: — 1st. 
As opposed to the power lodged in the Christian Church 
to settle quarrels by arbitration on the principles of equity 
and charity, which are principles quite distinct from law ; 
one being the anxiety to get, the other the desire to do 
right. And in assurance of this power being present with 
the Church then, St. Paul reminds the Corinthian Chris- 
tians of the Advent Day when it shall be complete — when 
" the saints shall judge the world." For the advent of 



TO THE COBINTHIAKS. 107 

Jesus Christ, — the Kingdom of God, — is but the complete 
development of powers and principles which are even now 
at work, changing and moulding the principles of the 
world. If hereafter the saints shall judge the world, 
"are ye unworthy now to judge the smallest matters?" 

2nd. The second point of view from which St. Paul 
regarded the sinfulness of this litigious spirit was the con- 
sideration of the Idea of the Church of Christ. Christian 
quarrels ! Disputes between Christian extortioners ! The 
idea of the Church of God admits of no such thought — 
" Ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the 
name of the Lord Jesus, and in the spirit of our God/' 

I urged this as the apostolic mode of appeal — to men 
as redeemed, rather than to men as debased, fallen, repro- 
bate. And I said further, that we must make our 
choice between these systems — the one, that of modern 
sectarianism ; the other, that of St. Paul, and, as I believe, 
of the Church of England. We must start from the 
foundation of Adam's fallen nature, or else from the foun- 
dation of Jesus Christ : we are either children of the devil 
or we are children of God. St. Paul says to all, " Ye 
are redeemed." 

To-day we are to consider another question, What are 
the limits of Christian rights ? 

We can scarcely conceive that the Religion of Jesus 
Christ could ever be thought to sanction sin and self- 
indulgence. But so it was. Men in the Corinthian 
Church, having heard the Apostle teach the Law of 
Liberty, pushed that doctrine so far as to make it mean a 
right to do whatsoever a man wills to do. Accordingly 
he found himself called on to oppose a system of self- 



108 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

indulgence and sensuality, a gratification of the appetites 
and the passions taught systematically as the highest 
Christianity. 

By these teachers self-gratification was maintained on 
the ground of two rights. 

First. The rights of Christian liberty. " All things are 
lawful for me." 

Secondly. The rights of nature. " Meats for the belly, 
and the belly for meats," and t( God shall destroy both it 
and them." 

First. The rights of Christian liberty. They stiffly 
stood on these. Their very watchword was, w All things 
are lawful." It is easy to understand how this exaggera- 
tion came about. Men suddenly finding themselves freed 
from Jewish law, with its thousand restrictions, naturally 
went very far in their new principles. For the first crude 
application of a theory either in politics or religion is 
always wild. They said, We may eat what we will. We 
are free from the observance of days. All things are 
lawful. That which is done by a child of God ceases to 
be sin. St. Paul met this exaggeration by declaring that 
Christian liberty is limited, first, by Christian expediency 
— " All things are lawful " — yes, " but all things are not 
expedient ; " and secondly, by its own nature — " All things 
are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the 
power of any." 

We will consider first the meaning of Christian expe- 
diency. It is that which is relatively best — the best 
attainable. There are two kinds of " best : " the " best " 
absolutely, and the "best" under present circumstances. 
It is absolutely best that war should cease throughout the 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 109 

world. Relatively, it is best, under present circumstances, 
that a country should be ready to defend itself if attacked. 
A defensive fleet is expedient, and relatively best, but not 
the absolutely Christian best. 

Now that which limits this liberty is, the profit of 
others. For example, in the northern part of these 
islands the observance of the Sabbath is much more 
rigorous than it is here. The best conceivable would be 
that all over Christendom the free hioh views of the 
Apostle Paul should be spread, the doctrine of the sancti- 
fication of all time. But so it is not yet. In the North, on 
Sunday, men will not sound an instrument of music, nor 
take a walk except to a place of worship. Now, suppose 
that an English Christian were to find himself in some 
Highland village, what would be his duty ? " All things 
are lawful for " him. By the law of Christian liberty 
he is freed from bondage to meats or drinks, to holidays 
or Sabbath days ; but if his use of this Christian liberty 
should shock his brother Christians, or should become an 
excuse for the less conscientious among them to follow his 
example, against the dictates of their own conscience, then 
it would be his Christian duty to abridge his own liberty, 
because the use of it would be inexpedient. 

The second limitation to this liberty arises out of its 
own nature. In that short sentence, " I will not be 
brought under the power of any," is contained one of the 
profoundest views of Christian liberty ; I will try to 
elucidate it. 

Christian liberty is internal. It resides in the deeps of 
the soul ; a soul freed by faith is safe from superstition. 
He who fears God will fear nothing else. He who knows 



110 LECTUEES ON THE EPISTLES 

moral wrong to be the only evil, will be free from the 
scrupulosities which torment others. It is that free self- 
determination which rules all things, which can enjoy or 
abstain at will. This spirit is expressed in " All things 
are yours, whether life or death, things present or things 
to come — all are yours." 

Hence is clear what St. Paul so often says in his 
Epistles. This liberty can manifest itself under outward 
restrictions ; for the spirit, exalted above all outward 
restrictions, no longer feels them to be restrictions. So if 
a Christian were in slavery he was Christ's freedman, 
that is, he has a right to be free ; but if by circumstances 
he is obliged to remain a slave, he is not troubled as if 
guilty of sin : he can wear a chain or not with equal 
spiritual freedom. 

Now, upon this the Apostle makes this subtle and 
exquisitely fine remark : — To be forced to use liberty is 
actually a surrender of liberty. If I turn " I may " into 
" I must," I am in bondage again. (i All things are lawful 
to me." But if I say, Not only lawful, but I must use 
them, I am brought under their power. 
| ! For, observe, there are two kinds of bondage. I am not 
free if I am under sentence of exile, and must leave my 
country. But also I am not free if I am under arrest, and 
must not leave it. So, too, if I think I must not touch 
meat on Friday, or that I must not read any but a reli- 
gious book on a Sunday, I am in bondage. But again, if 
I am tormented with a scrupulous feeling that I did 
wrong in fasting, or if I feel that I must read secular 
books on Sunday to prove my freedom, then my liberty 
has become slavery again. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. Ill 

It is a blessed liberation to know that natural inclina- 
tions are not necessarily sinful. But if I say all natural 
and innocent inclinations must be obeyed at all times, tlien 
I enter into bondage once more. Christ proved to St. 
Peter that He was free from the necessity of paying 
tribute, the law being unjust as applied to Him. But had 
He felt Himself bound by conscience not to pay it, He 
would not have been free. He paid the tribute, and 
thereby proved his liberty. For he alone is free who 
can use outward things with conscientious freedom as 
circumstances vary; who can take off restrictions from 
himself, or submit to them for good reasons; who can 
either do without a form or ritual, or can use it. 

See, then, how rare as well as noble a thing is Christian 
liberty! Free from superstition, but free also from the 
rude, inconsiderate spirit which thinks there is no liberty 
where it is not loudly vindicated : free from the obser- 
vance of rules, of rites, of ceremonies, free also from the 
popular prejudices which dare not use forms or observe 
days, and free from the vulgar outcry which is always 
protesting against the faith or practice of others. 

The second plea of the teachers St. Paul is here con- 
demning is, the rights of Nature. 

There is some difficulty in the exposition of this chapter, 
because the Apostle mixes together the pleas of his oppo- 
nents, with his own answers to those pleas — states them 
himself, in order that he may reply to them. The first 
part of the thirteenth verse contains two of these pleas ; the 
second part of this verse, with the fourteenth, contains his 
reply. 1. " Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats " 
— a natural correspondency. Here are appetites, and 



112 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

things made on purpose to satisfy appetites. " Therefore," 
said the j, " Nature herself says, { Enjoy !'" 2. The transi- 
toriness of this enjoyment furnishes an argument for the 
enjoyment. " God shall bring to an end both it and 
them." That is, the body will perish, so will the food and 
the enjoyments — they do not belong to eternity, therefore 
indulgence is a matter of indifference. It is foolish igno- 
rance to think that these are sins, any more than the 
appetites of brutes which perish. 

Now to these two pleas, St. Paul makes two answers. 
To the argument about correspondency of appetites with 
the gratifications provided for them — an argument drawn 
from our nature to excuse gluttony and sensuality — he 
replies thus, " The body is not for self-indulgence, but 
for the Lord, and the Lord for the body." In other words, 
he tells of a more exact mutual correspondency. He 
reveals a true and higher nature. 

Here again, we see that St. Paul comes into collision 
with a common mode of teaching, which says man's 
nature is utterly vile and corrupt. These Corinthians 
said that, and St. Paul replied, No ! that is a slander upon 
God. That is not your nature. Your true nature is, the 
body for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 

There is much confusion and dispute about this word 
" nature," because it is rather ambiguous. Take an illus- 
tration. The nature of a watch is correspondence with 
the sun, perfect harmony of wheels and balance. But 
suppose that the regulator was removed, and the main- 
spring unchecked ran down, throwing all into confusion. 
Then two things might be said. One might say, It is the 
nature of that watch to err. But would it not be a higher 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 113 

truth to say, Its nature is to go rightly, and it is just 
because it has departed from its nature that it errs ? 

So speaks the Apostle. To be governed by the springs 
of impulse only — your appetites and passions — this is not 
your nature. For the nature is the whole man ; the 
passions are but a part of the man. And therefore our 
redemption from the lower life must consist, not in a per- 
petual assertion and dinning reiteration of our vileness, but 
in a reminder of what we are — what our true nature is. 

To the other plea, the transitoriness of the body, he 
replies, You say the body will perish : (i God shall 
bring it to an end." I say the body will not perish. 
" God hath raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us 
by His power." It is the outward form of the body alone 
which is transitory. Itself shall be renewed — a nobler, 
more glorious form, fitted for a higher and spiritual 
existence. 

Now here, according to St. Paul, was the importance of 
the doctrine of the resurrection of the body. He taught 
that the Life which proceeds from faith carries with it the 
germ of a higher futurity. It will pervade humanity to 
its full extent until body, soul, and spirit, are presented 
blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus. 

And hence, too, he drew an awful argument against sin. 
Some sins are committed without the body; sins of sen- 
suality and animal indulgence are against the body. Our 
bodies, which are "members of Christ," to be ruled by His 
Spirit, become by such sins unfit for immortality with Christ. 
This is an awful truth. Sins committed against the body 
affect that wondrous tissue which we call the nervous 
system: the source of all our acutest suffering and in- 

i 



114 LECTURES ON TEE EPISTLES 

tensest blessing, is rendered so susceptible by God, as to 
be at once our punishment or reward. Sin carries with it 
its own punishment. There is not a sin of indulgence, 
gluttony, intemperance, or licentiousness of any form, 
which does not write its terrible retribution on our 
bodies. 

Lax notions respecting self-indulgence are simply false : 
sinful pleasures are not trifles and indifferent. Irritability, 
many an hour of isolation, of dark and dreary hopeless- 
ness, is the natural result of powers unduly stimulated, 
unrighteously gratified. 

In conclusion, it follows that nothing is really indiffe- 
rent. In itself, perhaps, it may be ; but under special cir- 
cumstances duty always lies one way or the other, and 
nothing presents itself to us in our daily life simply in 
itself, as unconnected with other considerations. 

And so Christian love makes all life one great duty. 



TO THE COMNTHIAXS. 115 



LECTURE XIV. 

December 21, 1851. 

Corinthians, vii. 1-22. — "Now concerning the things whereof ye 
wrote unto me : It is good for a man not to touch a woman. — Never- 
theless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let 
every woman have her own hushand. — Let the hushand render unto 
the wife due benevolence : and likewise also the wife unto the hus- 
band. — The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband : 
and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the 
wife. — Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a 
time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer ; and come 
together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. — But 
I speak this by permission, and not of commandment. — For I would 
that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper 
gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that. — I say there- 
fore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide 
even as I. — But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better 
to marry than to burn. — And unto the married I command, yet not I, 
but the Lord : Let not the wife depart from her husband. — But and if 
she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: 
and let not the husband put away his wife. — But to the rest speak I, 
not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she 
be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. — And the 
woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be 
pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. — For the unbelieving 
husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified 
by the husband: else were your children unclean : but now are they 
holy. — But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a 
sister is not under bondage in such cases : but God hath called us to 
peace. — For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy 
husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy 
wife? — But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath 
called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches. — 
Is any man called being circumcised? let him not become uncircum- 
cised. Is any called in un circumcision? let him not be circumcised. — 
Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keep- 

I 2 



116 LECTUEES ON THE EPISTLES 

ing of the commandments of God. — Let every man abide in the same 
calling wherein he was called. — Art thou called being a servant? care 
not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it raiher. — For he 
that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: like- 
wise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant." 

The whole of this seventh chapter of the First Epistle of 
the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians is occupied with some 
questions of Christian casuistiy. In the application of 
the principles of Christianity to the varying circum- 
stances of life, innumerable difficulties had arisen, and 
the Corinthians upon these difficulties had put certain 
questions to the Apostle Paul. We have here the 
Apostle's answers to many of these questions. There are, 
however, two great divisions into which these answers 
generally fall. St. Paul makes a distinction between those 
things which he speaks by commandment and those which 
he speaks only by permission ; there is a distinction between 
what he says as from the Lord, and what only from him- 
self; between that which he speaks to them as being taught 
of God, and that which he speaks only as a servant, "called 
of the Lord and faithful." It is manifestly plain that 
there are many questions in which right and ivrong are 
not variable, but indissoluble and fixed ; while there are 
questions, on the other hand, where these terms are not 
fixed, but variable, fluctuating, altering, dependent upon 
circumstances. As, for instance, those in which the Apostle 
teaches in the present chapter the several duties and advan- 
tages of marriage and celibacy. There may be circum- 
stances in which it is the duty of a Christian man to be 
married, there are others in which it may be his duty 
to remain unmarried. For instance, in the case of a 
missionary it may be right to be married rather than 



TO THE COEINTHIANS. 117 

unmarried; on the other hand, in the case of a pauper, 
not having the wherewithal to bring up and maintain a 
family, it may be proper to remain unmarried. You will 
observe, however, that no fixed law can be laid down 
upon this subject. We cannot say marriage is a Christian 
dut}^, nor celibacy is a Christian duty; nor that it is 
in every case the duty of a missionary to be married, 
or of a pauper to be unmarried. All these things must 
vary according to circumstances, and the duty must be 
stated not universally, but with reference to those circum- 
stances. 

These, therefore, are questions of casuistry, which 
depend upon the particular case: from which word the 
term " casuistry " is derived. On these points the Apostle 
speaks, not by commandment, but by permission; not 
as speaking by God's command, but as having the Spirit 
of God. A distinction has sometimes been drawn with 
reference to this chapter between that which the Apostle 
speaks by inspiration, and what he speaks as a man 
uninspired. The distinction, however, is an altogether 
false one, and beside the question. For the real distinc- 
tion is not between inspired and uninspired, but between 
a decision in matters of Christian duty, and advice in 
matters of Christian prudence. It is abundantly evident 
that God cannot give advice; He can only issue a com- 
mand. God cannot say, " It is better to do this ; " his 
perfections demand something absolute : " Thou shalt do 
this; thou shalt not do this." Whensoever, therefore, 
w r e come to advice there is introduced the human element 
rather than the divine. In all such cases, therefore, as 
are dependent upon circumstances, the Apostle speaks not 



118 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

as inspired, but as uninspired; as one whose judgment 
we have no right to find fault with or to cavil at, who 
lays down what is a matter of Christian prudence, and 
not a bounden and universal duty. The matter of the 
present discourse will take in various verses in this 
chapter — from the tenth to the twenty-fourth verse — 
leaving part of the commencement and the conclusion 
for our consideration, if God permit, next Sunday, 

There are three main questions on which the Apostle 
here gives his inspired decision. The first decision is 
concerning the sanctity of the marriage-bond between two 
Christians. His verdict is mven in the tenth verse : 
" Unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, 
Let not the wife depart from her husband." He lays 
down this principle, that the union is an indissoluble one. 
Upon such a subject, Christian brethren, before a mixed 
congregation, it is manifestly evident that we can only 
speak in general terms. It will be sufficient to say that 
marriage is of all earthly unions almost the only one 
permitting of no change but that of death. It is that 
engagement in which man exerts his most awful and 
solemn power — the power of responsibility which belongs 
to him as one that shall give account — the power of abne- 
gating the right to change — the power of parting with his 
freedom— the power of doing that which in this world 
can never be reversed. And yet it is perhaps that rela- 
tionship which is spoken of most frivolously, and entered 
into most carelessly and most wantonly. It is not an 
union merely between two creatures, it is an union 
between two spirits ; and the intention of that bond is to 
perfect the nature of both, by supplementing their defi- 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 119 

ciencies with the force of contrast, giving to each sex 
those excellencies in which it is naturally deficient ; to 
the one strength of character and firmness of moral will, 
to the other sympathy, meekness, tenderness. And just 
so solemn, and just so glorious as these ends are for 
which the union was contemplated and intended, just 
so terrible are the consequences if it be perverted and 
abused. For there is no earthly relationship which has 
so much power to ennoble and to exalt. Very strong 
language does the Apostle use in this chapter respecting 
it : " What knoweth thou, O wife, whether thou shalt 
save thy husband ? or how knowest thou, O man, whether 
thou shalt save thy wife ? " The very power of saving 
belongs to this relationship. And, on the other hand, 
there is no earthly relationship which has so much power 
to wreck and ruin the soul. For there are two rocks in 
this world of ours on which the soul must either anchor 
or be wrecked. The one is God; the other is the sex 
opposite to itself. The one is the " Rock of Ages," on 
which if the human soul anchors it lives the blessed life 
of faith ; against which if the soul be dashed and broken, 
there ensues the wreck of Atheism — the worst ruin of the 
soul. The other rock is of another character. Blessed 
is the man, blessed is the woman whose life-experience 
has taught a confiding belief in the excellencies of th 
sex opposite to their own — a blessedness second only to 
the blessedness of salvation. And the ruin in the other 
case is second only to the ruin of everlasting perdition — 
the same wreck and ruin of the soul. These, then, are 
the two tremendous alternatives : on the one hand the 
possibility of securing, in all sympathy and tenderness, 



120 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

the laying of that step on which man rises towards his 
perfection ; on the other hand the blight of all sympathy, 
to be dragged down to earth, and forced to become 
frivolous and commonplace ; to lose all zest and earnest- 
ness in life, to have heart and life degraded by mean and 
perpetually recurring sources of disagreement ; these are 
the two alternatives: and it is the worst of these alternatives 
which the young risk when they form an inconsiderate 
union, excusably indeed — because through inexperience; 
and it is the worst of these alternatives which parents risk 
— not excusably, but inexcusably — when they bring up their 
children with no higher view of w r hat that tie is than the 
merely prudential one of a rich and honourable marriage. 

The second decision which the Apostle makes respecting 
another of the questions proposed to him by the Corinthians 
is as to the sanctity of the marriage bond between a 
Christian and one who is a heathen. When Christianity 
first entered into our world, and was little understood, it 
seemed to threaten the dislocation and alteration of all 
existing relationships. Many difficulties arose ; such, for 
instance, as the one here started. When of two heathen 
parties only one was converted to Christianity, the ques- 
tion arose, W^hat in this case is the duty of the Christian ? 
Js not the duty separation ? Is not the marriage in itself 
null and void, as if it were an union between one dead 
and one living? And that perpetual contact with a 
heathen, and, therefore, an enemy of God — is not that, in 
a relation so close and intimate, perpetual defilement? 
The Apostle decides this with his usual inspired wisdom. 
He decides that the marriage-bond is sacred still. Diver- 
sities of religious opinion, even the farthest and widest 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 121 

diversity, cannot sanction separation. And so he decides, 
in the 13th verse, " The woman which hath an husband 
that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, 
let her not leave him." And, " If any brother hath a wife 
that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, 
let him not put her away," ver. 12. Now for us, in the 
present day, the decision on this point is not of so much 
importance as the reason which is adduced in support of 
it. The proof which the Apostle gives of the sanctity 
of the marriage is exceedingly remarkable. Practicallv 
it amounts to this : — If this were no marriage, but an 
unhallowed alliance, it would follow as a necessary con- 
sequence that the offspring could not be reckoned in any 
sense as the children of God ; but, on the other hand, it is 
the instinctive, unwavering conviction of every Christian 
parent, united though he or she may be to a heathen, 
" My child is a child of God," or, in the Jewish form of 
expression, " My child is dean.'" So the Apostle says, 
" the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and 
the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband : else 
were your children unclean; but now they are holy." For 
it follows, if the children are holy in the sense of dedicated 
to God, and are capable of Christian relationship, then the 
marriage relation was not unhallowed, but sacred and 
indissoluble. The value of this argument in the present 
day depends on its relation to baptism. The great ques- 
tion we are deciding in the present day may be reduced 
to a very few words. This question — the Baptismal 
question — is this: — Whether we are baptized because we 
are the children of God, or, whether we are the children 
of God because we are baptized ; whether, in other words, 



122 LECTURES OK THE EPISTLES 

when the Catechism of the Church of England says that 
by baptism we are " made the children of God," we are 
to understand thereby that we are made something which 
we were not before — magically and mysteriously changed; 
or, whether we are to understand that we are made the 
children of God by baptism in the same sense that a sove- 
reign is inade a sovereign by coronation? 

Here the Apostle's argument is full, decisive, and un- 
answerable. He does not say that these children were 
Christian, or clean, because they were baptized, but they 
were the children of God because they were the children 
of one Christian parent ; nay, more than that, such chil- 
dren could scarcely ever have been baptized, because, if 
the rite met with opposition from one of the parents, it 
would be an entire and perfect veto to the possibility of 
baptism. You will observe that the very fundamental 
idea out of which infant-baptism arises is, that the im- 
pression produced upon the mind and character of the 
child by the Christian parent makes the child one of a 
Christian community ; and, therefore, as Peter argued 
that Cornelius had received the Holy Ghost, and so was 
to be baptized, just in the same way, as they are adopted 
into the Christian family, and receive a Christian im- 
pression, the children of Christian parents are also to be 
baptized. 

Observe also the important truth which comes out 
collaterally from this argument — namely, the sacredness 
of the impression, which arises from the close connection 
between parent and child. Stronger far than education — 
going on before education can commence, possibly from 
the very first moments of consciousness — is the im- 



TO THE CORINTHIANS.. 123 

pression we make on our children. Our character, voice, 
features, qualities — modified, no doubt, by entering into 
a new human being, and into a different organization — are 
impressed upon our children. Not the inculcation of 
opinions, but, much more, the formation of principles, and 
of the tone of character, the derivation of qualities. Phy- 
siologists tell us of the derivation of the mental qualities 
from the father, and of the moral from the mother. But, 
be this as it may, there is scarcely one here who cannot 
trace back his present religious character to some im- 
pression, in early life, from one or other of his parents — a 
tone, a look, a word, a habit, or even, it may be, a bitter, 
miserable exclamation of remorse. 

The third decision which the Apostle gives, the third 
principle which he lays down, is but the development of 
the last. Christianity, he says, does not interfere with 
existing relationships. First, he lays down the principle, 
and then unfolds the principle in two ways, ecclesiastically 
and civilly. The principle he lays down in almost every 
variety of form. In the 17th verse: "As God hath distri- 
buted to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so 
let him walk." In the 20th verse: " Let every man abide 
in the same calling wherein he was called." In the 24th 
verse : " Brethren, let every man wherein he is called 
therein abide with God." This is the principle. Chris- 
tianity was not to interfere with existing relationships ; 
Christian men were to remain in those relationships in 
which they were, and in them to develop the inward 
spirituality of the Christian life. Then he applies this 
principle in two ways. First of all, ecclesiastically. With 
respect to the church, or ecclesiastical affairs, he says — 



124 LECTUEES ON THE EPISTLES 

" Is any man called being circumcised ? Let him not 
become uncircumcised. Is any man in micircumcision ? 
Let him not be circumcised." In other words, the Jews, 
after their conversion, were to continue Jews, if they 
would. Christianity required no change in these outward 
things, for it was not in these that the depth and reality of 
the kingdom of Christ consisted. So the Apostle Paul 
took Timothy and circumcised him ; so, also, he used all 
the Jewish customs with which he was familiar, and 
performed a vow, as related in the Acts of the Apostles, 
" having shorn his head in Cenchrea ; for he had a vow." 
It was not his opinion that it was the duty of a Christian 
to overthrow the Jewish system. He knew that the 
Jewish system could not last, but what he wanted was to 
vitalize the system — to throw into it not a Jewish, but a 
Christian feeling ; and so doing, he might continue in it so 
long as it would hold together. And so it was, no doubt, 
with all the other Apostles. We have no evidence that, 
before the destruction of the Jewish polity, there was any 
attempt made by them to overthrow the Jewish external 
religion. They kept the Jewish Sabbath, and observed 
the Jewish ritual. One of them, James, the Christian 
Bishop of Jerusalem, though a Christian, was even among 
the Jews remarkable and honourable for the regularity 
with which he observed all his Jewish duties. Now let 
us apply this to modern duties. The great desire among 
men now appears to be to alter institutions, to have 
perfect institutions, as if they would make perfect men. 
Mark the difference between this feeling and that of 
the Apostle : " Let every man abide in the same calling 
wherein he was called." We are called to be members of 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 125 

the Church of England — what is our duty now ? What 
would Paul have done? Is this our duty — to put such 
questions to ourselves as these ? ei Is there any single, 
particular sentence in the service of my Church with 
which I do not entirely agree ? Is there any single cere- 
mony with which my whole soul does not go along? If 
so, then it is my duty to leave it at once ? " No, my 
brethren, all that we have to do is to say, e( All our exist- 
ing institutions are those under which God has placed us, 
under which we are to mould our lives according to His 
will." It is our duty to vitalize our forms, to throw into 
them a holier, deeper meaning. My Christian brethren, 
surely no man will get true rest, true repose for his soul in 
these days of controversy, until he has learned the wise 
significance of these wise words — " Let every man abide 
in the same calling wherein he was called." He will but 
gain unrest, he will but disquiet himself, if he says, " I am 
sinning by continuing in this imperfect system," if he con- 
siders it his duty to change his calling if his opinions do 
not agree in every particular and special point with the 
system under which God has placed him. 

Lastly, the Apostle applies this principle civilly. And 
you will observe he applies it to that civil relationship 
which, of all others, was the most difficult to harmonize 
with Christianity — slavery. " Art thou called," he says, 
"being a servant? Care not for it." Now, in considering 
this part of the subject we should carry along with us 
these two recollections. First, we should recollect that 
Christianity had made much way among this particular 
class, the class of slaves. No wonder that men cursed 
with slavery embraced with joy a religion which was 



126 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

perpetually teaching the worth and dignity of the human 
soul, and declaring that rich and poor, peer and peasant, 
master and slave, were equal in the sight of God. And 
yet, great as this growth was, it contained within it 
elements of danger. It was to be feared, lest men, hear- 
ing for ever of brotherhood and Christian equality, should 
be tempted and excited to throw off the yoke by force, and 
compel their masters and oppressors to do them right. 

The other fact we are to keep in remembrance is this — 
that all this occurred in an age in which slavery had 
reached its worst and most fearful form, an age in which 
the emperors were accustomed, not unfrequ entry, to feed 
their fish with living slaves; when captives were led to 
fight in the amphitheatre with wild beasts or with each 
other, to glut the Roman appetite for blood upon a Roman 
holiday. And yet, fearful as it was, the Apostle says, 
" Care not for it." And, fearful as war was in those days, 
when the soldiers came to John to be baptized, he did not 
recommend them to join some " Peace Association," to use 
the modern term ; he simply exhorted them to be content 
with their wages. And hence we understand the way in 
which Christianity was to work. It interferes indirectly, 
and not directly, with existing institutions. No doubt it 
will at length abolish war and slavery, but there is not 
one case where we find Christianity interfering with insti- 
tutions, as such. Even when Onesimus ran away and 
came to Paul, the Apostle sent him back to his master 
Philemon, not dissolving the connection between them. 
And then, as a consolation to the servant, he told him of a 
higher feeling — a feeling that would make him free, with 
the chain and shackle upon his arm. And so it was 



TO THE COHINTHIANS. 127 

possible for the Christian then, as it is now, to be possessed 
of the highest liberty even under tyranny. It many times 
occurred that Christian men found themselves placed 
under an unjust and tyrannical government, and com- 
pelled to pay unjust taxes. The Son of Man showed his 
freedom, not by refusing, but by paying them. His 
glorious liberty could do so without any feeling of degra- 
dation; obeying the laws, not because they were right, 
but because institutions are to be upheld with cordiality. 

One thing in conclusion we have to observe. It is 
possible from all this to draw a most inaccurate con- 
clusion. Some men have spoken of Christianity as if it 
was entirely indifferent about liberty and all public 
questions — as if with such things as these Christianity 
did not concern itself at all. This indifference is not to 
be found in the Apostle Paul. While he asserts that 
inward liberty is the only true liberty, he still goes on to 
say, " If thou mayst be free use it rather." For he well 
knew that although it was possible for a man to be a high 
and lofty Christian, even though he were a slave, yet it 
was not probable that he would be so. Outward institu- 
tions are necessary partly to make a perfect Christian 
character; and thus Christianity works from what is 
internal to what is external. It gave to the slave the 
feeling of his dignity as a man, at the same time it gave 
to the Christian master a new view of his relation to his 
slave, and taught him to regard him ei not now as a 
servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved." And so 
by degrees slavery passed into freed servitude, and freed 
servitude, under God's blessing, may pass into something 
else. There are two mistakes which are often made upon 



128 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

this subject ; one is, the error of supposing that outward 
institutions are unnecessary for the formation of character, 
and the other, that of supposing that they are all that is 
required to form the human soul. If we understand 
rightly the duty of a Christian man, it is this : to make 
his brethren free inwardly and outwardly ; first inwardly, 
so that they may become masters of themselves, rulers of 
their passions, having the power of self-rule and self- 
control ; and then outwardly, so that there may be every 
power and opportunity of developing the inward life ; in 
the language of the prophet, " To break the rod of the 
oppressor and let the oppressed go free." 



TO THE COIUNTHIASS. 129 



LECTURE XV. 

November 16, 1S51. 

1 Corinthians, vii. 29-31. — "But this I say, brethren, the time is short: 
it remaineth, that both they that have wires be as though they had 
none. — And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that 
rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though 
they possessed not. — And they that use this world, as not abusing it: 
for the fashion of this world passeth away." 

This was St. Paul's memorable decision, in reply to cer- 
tain questions proposed to him by the Church of Corinth, 
on the subject of Unworldliness. Christianity was a new 
thing in the world, and circumstances daily arose in which 
it became a question in what way Christianity was to be 
applied to the circumstances of ordinary daily life. 

Christ had said of his disciples, " They are not of the 
world." It was a question, therefore, — Can a Christian 
lawfully enter the married state ? Can he remain a slave 
and be a Christian too ? — May he make certain worldly 
compliances? — Should a Christian wife remain with an 
unchristian husband ? Here was the root of the difficult 
question — What is Worldliness ? 

Now, observe the large, broad spirit of the Apostle's 
answer. In effect he says you may do all this — you may 
enter into family relationships, and yet be living in expec- 
tation of Christ's coming. If you are a slave, care not 
for it. If any that believe not invite you to a feast, and 
you are disposed to go, go without fear. I cannot judge 

K 



130 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

for you ; you must j udge for yourselves. All that I lay 
down is, you must in spirit live above, and separate from 
the love of earthly things. 

Christianity is a spirit — it is a set of principles, and not 
a set of rules ; it is not a mapping out of the chart of 
life, with every shoal and rock marked, and the exact 
line of the ship's course laid down. It does not say, Do 
not go to this, or, See that you abstain from that. It 
gives no definite rules for dress, or for the expenditure of 
time or money. A principle is announced ; but the appli- 
cation of that principle is left to each man's own con- 
science. 

Herein Christianity differed essentially from Judaism. 
Judaism was the education of the spiritual child, Chris- 
tianity that of the spiritual man. You must teach a child 
by rules ; and, as he does not know the reason of them, 
his duty consists in implicit and exact obedience. But a 
man who is governed, not by principles, but by maxims 
and rules, is a pedant, or a slave; he will never be able 
to depart from the letter of the rule, not even to preserve 
the spirit of it. Here is one difference between the Law 
and Gospel, The Law lays down rules — "Do this and 
live." The Gospel lays down principles. Thus Judaism 
said, Forgive seven times — exactly so much ; Christianity 
said, Forgiveness is a boundless spirit — not three times, 
nor seven. No rule can be laid down but an infinite one, 
— seventy times seven. It must be left to the heart. 

So, too, the Law said, — " On the Sabbath-day thou 
shalt do no manner of work." The spirit of this was rest 
for man, and Pharisaism kept literally to the rule. It 
would rather that a man should perish than that any work 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 131 

should be done, or any ground travelled over, on the 
Sabbath-day, in saving him. Pharisaism regarded the 
day as mysterious and sacred ; Christianity proclaimed the 
day to be nothing, — the spirit, for which the day was set 
apart, every thing. It said, " The Sabbath was made for 
man, not man for the Sabbath." It broke the day in the 
letter, whenever it was necessary in the true spiritual 
observance of the day to advantage the man. 

Unworldliness, then, does not consist in giving up this 
or that ; but in a certain inward principle. Had St. Paul 
been one of those ministers who love to be the autocrats of 
their congregations, who make their own limited concep- 
tions the\iniversal rule of right and wrong, he would have 
hailed this opportunity of deciding the question for them. 
But he walked in the light and liberty of the Gospel him- 
self, and he desired that his converts should do the same. 

This, then, is our subject — 

I. The motives for Christian unworldliness. 

II. The nature of that unworldliness. 

The first motive is, the shortness of time. "This I 
say, brethren, the time is short." That mysterious word 
"time," which is a matter of sensation, dependent on 
the flight of ideas, may be long to one person and short 
to another. The span of life granted to a summer but- 
terfly is long compared with that granted to the epheme- 
ron, it is short compared with the duration of a cedar of 
Lebanon. Relative to experience, an hour is long to a 
child, yet a year is little to a man. Shortness, therefore, 
is a term entirely relative to something else. 

1. It is relative to the way in which we look on time ; 
whether it be regarded from before or after. Time past is 

K 2 



132 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

a dream, time to come seems immense ; the longest night, 
which seemed as if it would never drag through, is but a 
speck of memory when it is gone. At sixty-five, a man 
has on an average five years to live; yet his imagina- 
tion obstinately attaches solidity and stability to those 
five coming years, though the sixty-five seem but a 
moment. To the young such words as these are often 
perfectly unmeaning ; life to them is an inexhaustible 
treasure. But ask the old man what he thinks of the time 
he has had; he feels what the young can scarcely be 
brought to believe, — that time future may seem long, 
but time past is as nothing. Years glide swiftly, though 
hours and minutes scarcely seem to move. 

2. Time is short in relation to opportunities. Literally 
these words mean — " The opportunity is compressed, — 
narrowed in," — that is, every season has its own oppor- 
tunity, which never comes back. A chance once gone, 
is lost for ever. The autumn sun shines as brightly as 
that of spring, but the seed of spring cannot be sown in 
autumn. The work of boyhood cannot be done in man- 
hood. Time is short — it is opportunity narrowed in ! 

The chance will not be given you long. Have you 
learnt the lesson of yesterday ? or the infinite meaning 
of to-day ? It has duties of its own ; they cannot be 
left until to-morrow. To-morrow will bring its own 
work. There is a solemn feeling in beginning any new 
work ; in the thought, I have begun this to-day, shall I 
ever complete it ? And a voice says, (i Work on, for the 
day of its closing is unknown." The true consciousness 
of this life is as a tombstone, on which two dates are 
to be inscribed : the dav of birth is engraven at full 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 133 

length, while a blank is left for the day of death. Born 

on such a day ; died ? The time in which that 

blank has to be filled np is short. The great idea brought 
out by Christianity was the eternity of the soul's life. 
With this idea the Corinthian Church was then strug- 
gling. So vast, so absorbing was this idea to them, that 
there was ground for fear lest it should absorb all consider- 
ations of the daily life, and duties, which surrounded these 
converts. The thought arose, — "Oh! in comparison of 
that great hereafter, this little life shrivels into nothing- 
ness! Is it worth while to attempt to do anything? What 
does it concern us to marry, to work, to rejoice, or to 
weep ? " All deep minds have felt this at some period or 
other of their career — all earnest souls have had this temp- 
tation presented to them in some form or other. It has come 
perhaps when we were watching underneath the quiet, 
gliding heavens, or perhaps when the ticking of a clock 
in restless, midnight hours, made us realize the thought 
that time was speeding on for ever — for this life beating- 
out fast. That strange, awful thing, Time ! sliding, glid- 
ing, fleeting on — on to the cataract ; and then the deep, 
deep plunge down, bearing with it and swallowing up 
the world and the ages, until every interest that now 
seems so great and absorbing is as a straw on the mighty 
bosom of a flood. Let but a man possess his soul with 
this idea of Time, and then unworldliness will be the 
native atmosphere he breathes. 

The second motive given is the changefulness of the exter- 
nal world. " The fashion of this world passeth away." It 
may be needful here to remark, that the word "fashion " has 
not here the popular meaning which has been generally 



134 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

assigned to it. It does not refer to those customs and con- 
ventionalities which vary in different nations and different 
ages. All these pass away ; but the word refers here to 
all that is external upon earth, all that has form, and 
shape, and scenery ; all that is visible in contradistinction 
to that which is invisible. 

The transitoriness of this world might have been purely 
a matter of revelation. Instead of gradual and visible 
decay, God might have arranged his cycles so that 
change should not have been perceptible within the limits 
of a lifetime, that dissolution should have come on things 
suddenly, instead of by slow and gradual steps. Instead of 
that, He has mercifully chosen that it should not only be a 
matter of revelation, but of observation also. Tins visible 
world is only a form and an appearance. God has written 
decay on all around us. On the hills, which are everlasting 
only in poetry ; their outlines changing within the memory 
of man. On the sea-coast, fringed with shingle. Look 
at it receding from our white cliffs ; its boundaries are not 
what they were. This law is engraven on our own frames. 
Even in the infant the progress of dissolution has visibly 
begun. The principle of development is at work, and deve- 
lopment is but the necessary step towards decay. There 
is a force at work in everything — call it what you will — 
Life or Death : it is reproduction out of decay. The 
outward form is in a perpetual flux and change. 

We stand amidst the runis of other days, and as they 
moulder before our eyes they tell us of generations which 
have mouldered before them, and of nations which have 
crossed the theatre of life and have disappeared. We join in 
the gladness of the baptism, and the years roll on so rapidly 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 135 

that we are almost startled to find ourselves standing at the 
wedding. But pass on a few years more, and the young 
heart for which there was so much gladness in the future 
has had its springs dried up. He belongs to a generation 
which has passed, and they among whom he lingers feel as 
if he had lived too long. And then he drops silently into 
the grave to make way for others. One of our deepest 
thinkers — a man of profoundest observation, who thought 
by means of a boundless heart — has told us, in words trite 
and familiar to us all, 

" All the -world 's a stage, 
And all the men and women merely players : 
They have their exits and their entrances ; 
And one man in his time plays many parts." 

Let us look at our own neighbourhood. Those with 
whom we walked in youth are gone, and scattered we 
know not where, and others have filled their places. We 
are developing every day new relationships : every day 
new circumstances are occurring which call upon us to act 
promptly, manfully, equal to the occasion ; for the past is 
gone. 

Therefore strive to be unworldly. Be not buried in the 
present. To-day becomes yesterday so fast. Mourn not 
over what will so soon be irreparably gone. There is 
nothing worth it. 

Again, that " fashion of the world " passes away in us. 
Our very minds change — not merely the objects which 
make the impression on them. The impressions themselves 
are fleeting. All except the perpetually-repeated sensa- 
tions of eternity, space, time ; all else alters. There is no 
affliction so sharp, no joy so bright, no shock so severe, — 
but Time modifies and cures all. The keenest feeling; in 



136 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

this world is not eternal. If it remains, it is in an altered 
form. Our memories are like monumental brasses : the 
deepest graven inscription becomes at last illegible. Of 
such a world the Apostle seems to ask, Is this a world for 
an immortal being to waste itself upon ? 

II. The nature of Christian unworldliness. 

Two points are contained in this last verse. 1st. The 
spirit or principle of unworldliness ; to use this world as 
not abusing it. 2nd. The application of that principle to 
four cases of life. Domestic relations. — " They that have 
wives be as though they had none." Joy. — " They that re- 
joice, as though they rejoiced not." Sorrow. — " They that 
weep, as though they wept not." The acquisition of 
Property. — "They that buy, as though they possessed not." 

The principle is, to " use this world as not abusing it." 
Here Christianity stands between the worldly spirit and the 
narrow religious spirit. The worldly spirit says, " Time is 
short ; take your fill ; live while you can." The narrow 
religious spirit says, (i All the pleasure here is a snare 
and dangerous ; keep out of it altogether." In opposi- 
tion to this narrow spirit, Christianity says, " Use the 
world," and, in opposition to the worldly spirit, " Do not 
abuse it. All things are yours. Take them and use 
them ; but never let them interfere with the higher life 
which you are called on to lead. e A man's life con- 
sisteth not in the abundance of the things that he 
possesses.' " 

It is therefore a distinct duty to use life, while we are 
here. We are citizens of the world, we may not shrink 
from it. We must share its duties, dangers, sorrows, and 
joys. Time is short; therefore opportunities are so much 



TO THE COEIiSTMANS. 137 

the more valuable. There is an infinite value stamped upon 
them. Therefore, use the world. But then it is a duty 
equally distinct, to live above the world. Unworldliness 
is the spirit of holding all things as not our own, in the 
perpetual conviction that they will not last. It is not to 
put life and God's lovely world aside with self-torturing 
hand. It is to have the world, and not to let the world 
have you ; to be its master and not its slave. To have 
Christ hidden in the heart, calming all, and making all 
else seem by comparison poor and small. 

This principle he applies, first, to domestic life. " They 
that have wives be as though they had none." 

The idea was just then beginning to be discussed, which 
of the two was in itself the higher state, and more ac- 
cording to God's will, the single or the married. In 
after ages this question was decided in a very disastrous 
way ; for it was taught that celibacy was the only really 
pure and angelic life. Marriage was regarded as earthly 
and sensual, unfit for those who were to serve as priests. 
Now here observe the apostolic wisdom. He does not 
say celibacy is the saintly, and marriage the lower and 
earthlier state. He wisely says, " In whatever state you 
can most undistractedly serve God, that is the unworldly 
one to you." 

This is a very important principle for consideration in 
the present day. There is a growing tendency to look on 
a life of contemplation and retirement, of separation from 
all earthly ties, — in a word, asceticism — as the higher 
life. Let us understand that God has so made man, that 
ordinarily he who lives' alone leaves part of his heart 
uncultivated; for God made man for domestic life. He 



138 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

who would be wiser than his Maker is only wise in 
appearance. He who cultivates one part of his nature 
at the expense of the rest has not produced a perfect 
man, but an exaggeration. It is easy, in silence and solitude, 
for the hermit to be abstracted from all human interests 
and hopes, to be dead to honour, dead to pleasure. 
But, then, the sympathies which make him a man with 
men — how shall they grow? He is not the highest 
Christian avIio lives alone and single, but he who, whether 
single or married, lives superior to this earth ; he who, in 
the midst of domestic cares, petty annoyances, or daily 
vexations, can still be calm, and serene, and sweet. That 
is real unworldliness ; and, in comparison with this, the mere 
hermit's life is easy indeed. 

The second case is unworldliness in sorrow. "They 
that weep, as though they wept not." 

Observe, the Apostle does not here recommend apathy, 
nor merely a reason of prudence. He bids them sorrow ; 
but not as they who have no hope. He does not say? 
" Weep not;" but " weep, as though they wept not." 

This unworldliness consists of two parts — 

1st. The duty and the right of sorrow. " Weep." 
Christianity does not sear the human heart ; it softens it. 
They who forbid grief should, to be consistent, go further 
and forbid affection, for grief is only a state of the affec- 
tions ; if joy be felt in the presence of the loved object, 
grief must be felt in its absence. Christianity destroys 
selfishness, makes a man quick and sensitive for others, 
and alive to every call of affection. Moreover, dealing 
with infinite things, it imparts something of its own infini- 
tude to every feeling. A Christian is a man whose heart 



TO THE CORIXTKANS. 139 

is exquisitely attuned to all utterances of grief. Shall lie 
not feel nor mourn ? His Master wept over the grave of 
friendship. Tears of patriotism fell from His eyes. There 
is no unmanliness in shedding tears ; it is not unchristian 
to yield to deep feeling. We may admire the stern old 
Roman heart; but we must not forget that the Roman 
stoicism is not of the spirit of Christianity. For Chris- 
tianity says, " Weep." 

2nd. Christian unworldliness puts limits to sorrow. " As 
though they wept not :" that is, as though God had already 
removed their grief. Else in this world of sorrow and 
distress, how should we escape despair ? Familiarity with 
eternal things subdues grief, calms and softens it, gives 
it a true perspective. Christianity does not say to our 
hearts, Avhen smarting under the bitter pain of disappoint- 
ment or loss, " It is nothing ! " but it says, " It is less than 
you had supposed it to be ; you will, sooner or later, feel 
that it is easier to bear than you expected." This elastichy 
of heart receives its only true warrant from Christianity. 
Have you lost a dear relative ? Well, you may weep ; 
but even while weeping, Christ comes to you and says, 
" Thy brother shall rise again." 

The third case is unworldliness in joy. (i They that 
rejoice, as though they rejoiced not." Christ's religion is 
no grim, ghastly system of gloom. God's world is not like 
the fabled place of punishment where waters of refresh- 
ment rise brimming to the lips, while a stern prohibition 
sounds forth, " Touch not, taste not, handle not." You 
will observe, the joy spoken of here is not spiritual, but 
earthly joy ; for, if it had been spiritual joy, the Apostle 
could not have put any limitation to it. Therefore, Chris- 



1-iO LECTURES U.\ IKE EPISTLES 

tians may have earthly joy. And they that rejoice are 
emphatically the yomig. Let the young be happy. Health, 
spirits, youth, society, accomplishments. — let them enjoy 
these, and thank God with no misgiving. Let there 
be no half-remorsefdl sensations, as though they were 
stolen joys. Christ had no sympathy with that tone of 
mind which scowls on human happiness: His first mani- 
festation of power was at a marriage feast. Who would 
check the swallow's night, or silence the gush of happy 
melody which the thrush poors forth in spring? Look 
round this beautiful world of God's : ocean dimpled into 
myriad smiles ; the sky a trembling, quivering mass of 
blue, thrilling hearts with ecstasy ; every tint, every form 
replete with beauty. You cannot, except wilfully, mis- 
read its meaning. God says, " Be glad !" Do not force 
young, happy hearts to an unnatural solemnity, as if to 
be happy were a crime. Let us hear their loud, merry, 
ringing laugh, even if sterner hearts can be glad no 
longer ; to see innocent mirth and joy does the heart 
good. 

But now, observe, everlasting considerations are to 
come in, not to sadden joy. but to calm it, to moderate 
its transports, and make even worldly joy a sublime thing. 
TVe are to be calm, cheerful, self-possessed; to ^it loose 
to all these sources of enjoyment, masters of ourselves. 

The Apostle lays down no rule respecting worldly 
amusements. He does not say you must avoid this or 
that, but he lays down broad principles. People often 
come to ministers, and ask them to draw a boundary line, 
within which they may safely walk. There is none. It is 
at our peril that we attempt to define where God has not 



TO THE CORBTFHIAS& 141 

defined. We cannot say, {i This amusement is right, and 
that is wrong." And herein is the greater responsibility 
laid upon all. for we have to live out principles rather 
than maxims ; and the principle here is. Be unworldly. 

But, remember, if the enjoyments which you permit 
yourselves are such, that the thought of passing time, and 
coming eternity, presents itself as an intrusive thought, 
which has no business there, which is out of place, and 
incongruous : if you become secularized, excited, and arti- 
ficial ; if there is left behind a craving for excitement 
which can only be slaked by more and more intense 
excitement : then it is at your own peril that you say, 
All is left open to me, and permitted. Unworldly yon 
oecome — or die. Dare not to say this is only a 
matter of opinion : it is not a matter of opinion : it is a 
matter of conscience ; and to God you must give account 
for the way in which you have been dealing v 
soul. 

The fourth case is imworldliness in the acquisition of 
property. u They that buy, as though they j ssessed not." 

Unworldliness is not measured by icliat you possess, but 
by the spirit in which you possess it. It is not said, - Do 
not buy," but rather ■'■ : Buy, — possess.'' You may be a 
large merchant, an extensive landed proprietor, a thriving 
tradesman, if only your heart be separate from the love 
of these earthly things, with God's love paramount there. 
The amount of proper: y d possess does not affect : 
question : it is purely a relative consideration. You go 
into a regal or ducal palace, and perhaps, unaccustomed to 
the splendour which you see, you say, ••"All this is worldli- 
But the poor nes to your honse; y : 



142 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES 

dress, simple as it is, seems magnificent to him ; your day's 
expenditure would keep his family for half a year. He 
sees round him expensively bound books, costly fur- 
niture, pictures, silver, and china — a profusion certainly 
beyond what is absolutely necessary; and to him this 
seems worldliness too. If the monarch is to live as you 
live, why should not you live as the labourer lives ? If 
what you call the necessaries of life be the measure of 
the rich man's worldliness, why should not the poor man's 
test gauge yours ? No ! we must take another test than 
property as the measure of worldliness. Christianity 
forbids our condemning others ; men may buy and possess. 
Christianity prescribes no law for dress, its colour, its 
fashion, or its cost ; none for expenditure, none for posses- 
sions: it fixes great principles, and requires you to be 
unaffected, unenslaved by earthly things ; to possess them 
as though you possessed them not. The Christian is one 
who, if a shipwreck or a fire were to take all luxury away, 
could descend, without being crushed, into the valleys of 
existence. He wears all this on the outside, carelessly, 
and could say, " My all was not laid there." 

In conclusion, let there be no censoriousness. How 
others live, and what they permit themselves, may be a 
matter for Christian charity, but it is no matter for 
Christian severity. To his own master each must stand 
or fall. Judge not. It is work enough for any one of us 
to save his own soul. 

Let there be no self-deception. The way in which I 
have expounded this subject gives large latitude, and any 
one may abuse it if he will, — any one may take comfort to 
himself, and say, " Thank God, there are no hard restric- 



TO THE COEINTHIANS. 143 

tions in Christianity." Remember, however, that World- 
liness is a more decisive test of a man's spiritual state than 
even Shi. Sin may be sudden, the result of temptation, 
without premeditation, yet afterwards hated — repented of 
— repudiated — forsaken. But if a man be at home in the 
world's pleasure and pursuits, content that his spirit should 
have no other heaven but in these things, happy if they 
could but last for ever, is not his state, genealogy, and 
character clearly stamped ? 

Therefore, does St. John draw the distinction — " If any 
man sin, we have an advocate with the Father ; " — but 
"If any man love the world, the love of the Father is 
not in him." 



144 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 



LECTURE XVI. 

November 23, 1851. 

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CHRISTIAN AND SECULAR 
KNOWLEDGE. 

1 Corinthians, viii. 1-7. — " Now as touching things offered unto idols, 
we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but 
charity edifieth. — And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, 
he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. — But if any man love 
God, the same is known of him. — As concerning therefore the eating 
of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that. 
an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but 
one. — For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or 
in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many.) — But to us there is 
but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and 
one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. — How- 
beit there is not in every man that knowledge : for some with conscience 
of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and 
their conscience being weak is defiled." 

The particular occasion of this chapter was a controversy 
going on in the Church of Corinth respecting a Christian's 
right to eat meat which had been sacrificed to idols. 
Now the question was this : — It was customary, when an 
animal was sacrificed or consecrated to a heathen god, 
to reserve one portion for the priest and another for the 
worshipper. These were either used in the feasts or sold 
like common meat in the shambles. Now among the 
Corinthian converts some had been Jews and some 
heathens : those who had been Jews would naturally shrink 
from eating this meat, their previous training being so 
strongly opposed to idolatry, while those who had been 



TO THE COMNTHIANS. 145 

heathen would be still more apt to shrink from the use 
of this meat than were the Jews ; for it is proverbial 
that none are so bitter against a system as those who 
have left it, perhaps, for the simple reason that none know 
so well as they the errors of the system they have left. 
There was another reason which made the heathen con- 
verts shrink from eating this meat, and this was that 
they were unable to divest themselves of the idea that 
the deities they had once adored were living entities ; 
they had ceased to bow before them, but long habit had 
made them seem living personalities : they looked on 
them as demons. Hence, the meat of an animal con- 
secrated while living to an idol appeared to them 
polluted, accursed, contaminated — a thing only fit to be 
burnt, and utterly unfit for food. This state of feeling 
may be illustrated by the modern state of belief with 
reference to apparitions. Science has banished an express 
faith in their existence, yet we should, probably, be 
surprised did we know how much credulity on this 
subject still remains. The statute book is purged from 
the sentences on witchcraft, and yet a lingering feeling 
remains that it may still exist in power. Christianity 
had done the same for the heathen deities. They were 
dethroned as gods, but they still existed, to the imagi- 
nation, as beings of a lower order — as demons who were 
malicious to men and enemies to God. Hence, meat 
offered to them was regarded as abominable, as unfit 
for a Christian man to eat; he was said to have com- 
promised his Christianity by doing so. On the other 
hand, there were men of clearer views who maintained 
in the language ([noted by St. Paul — " An idol is nothing 

L 



146 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

In the world" — a nonentity, a name, a phantom of the 
Imagination : it cannot pollute the meat, since it is 
nothing, and has no reality. Therefore, they derided the 
scruple of the weaker brethren and said, " We will eat." 
Now all this gave rise to the enunciation of a great 
principle by the Apostle Paul. In laying it down, he 
draws a sharp distinction between Secular and Christian 
Knowledge, and also unfolds the Law of Christian Con- 
science. 

It is to the first of these that I shall claim your atten- 
tion to-day. 

A great controversy is going on at the present time in 
the matter of Education. One party extols the value of 
instruction, the other insists loudly that secular education 
without religion is worse than useless. By secular educa- 
tion is meant instruction in such branches as arithmetic, 
geography, grammar, and history, and by religious educa- 
tion, instruction in the Bible and the catechism. But 
you will see at once that the Knowledge, of which St. Paul 
spoke slightingly, was much higher than any, or all of these. 
He spoke of instruction not merely in history, geography, 
or grammar, but instruction in the Bible, the catechism, 
and the articles, as worthless without training in Humility 
and Charity. This was the secular knowledge he speaks 
of, for you will perceive that he treats knowledge of very 
important religious matters as secular, and rates it very 
low indeed. He said mere knowledge is worth little ; but 
then by knowledge, he meant not merely knowledge 
without Christian doctrine, but knowledge without Love. 
Many a person now zealous on this point of education 
would be content if onlv the Bible, without note or com- 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 147 

ment, were taught. But St. Paul would not have been 
content, he would have calmly looked on and said, This 
also is secular knowledge. This, too, is the knowledge 
which puffeth up ; but Christian knowledge is the Charity 
which alone buildeth up an heavenly spirit. 

Let me try to describe more fully this secular knowledge. 
It is Knowledge without Humility. — For it is not so 
much the department of knowledge as it is the spirit in 
which it is acquired which makes the difference between 
secular and Christian knowledge. It is not so much the 
thing known, as the way of knowing it. ee If any man think 
that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he 
ought to know." "As he ought to know." That single 
word " as " is the point of the sentence ; for it is not ivhat 
to know, but how to know, which includes all real know- 
ledge. The greatest of modern philosophers, and the 
greatest of modern historians, Humboldt and Niebuhr, 
were both eminently humble men. So, too, you will find 
the real talent among mechanics is generally united to 
great humility. Whereas the persons you would select 
as puffed up by knowledge are those who have a few 
religious maxims and a few shallow religious doctrines. 
There are two ways therefore of knowing all things. One 
is that of the man who loves to calculate how far he is 
advanced beyond others ; the other, that of the man who 
feels how infinite knowledge is, how little he knows, and 
how deep the darkness of those who know even less than 
he : who says, not as a cant phrase, but in unaffected 
sincerity, <( I know nothing, and do go into the grave." 
That knowledge will never puff up. 

Again, it is Liberty without Reverence. — These men to 

L 2 



148 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

whom the Apostle writes in rebuke were free from many 
superstitions. An idol, they said, was nothing in the 
world. But although freed from the worship of false gods, 
they had not therefore adored the true God. For it is not 
merely freedom from superstition which is worship of God, 
but it is loving dependence on Him ; the surrender of 
self. " If any man love God, the same is known of Him." 
Observe it is not said, " he shall know God," bat " shall 
be known of Him ;" that is, God shall acknowledge the 
likeness and the identity of spirit, and " will come unto 
him and make His abode with him." There is much of 
the spirit of these Corinthians existing now. Men throw 
off what they call the trammels of education, false systems, 
and superstitions, and then call themselves free: they 
think it a grand thing to reverence nothing ; all seems 
to them either kingcraft or priestcraft, and to some it is a 
matter of rejoicing that they have nothing left either to 
respect or worship. There is a recent work in which the 
writer has tried to overthrow belief in God, the soul, and 
immortality, and proclaims this liberty as if it were a 
gospel for the race ! My brother men, this is not high 
knowledge. It is a great thing to be free from mental 
slavery, but suppose you are still a slave to your passions ? 
It is a great thing to be emancipated from superstition, but 
suppose you have no religion ? From all these bonds of 
the spirit Christianity has freed us, says St. Paul, but then 
it has not left us merely free from these, it has bound us 
to God. " Though there be gods many, yet to us there is 
but one God." The true freedom from superstition is free 
service to religion : the real emancipation from false gods 
is reverence for the true God. For high knowledge is not 



TO THE CORLNTK1A2SS. 149 

negative, but positive : it is to be freed from the fear of 
the Many in order to adore and love the One. And not 
merely is this the only real knowledge, but no other know- 
ledge " buildeth up" the soul. It is all well so long as 
elasticity of youth and health remain. Then the pride of 
intellect sustains us strongly; but a time comes when we 
feel terribly that the Tree of Knowledge is not the Tree 
of Life. Our souls without God and Christ enter deeper 
and deeper into the fearful sense of the hollowness and 
darkness, the coldness, and the death, of a spirit separate 
from love. "He that increaseth knowledge increaseth 
sorrow." Separate from love, the more we know, the 
profounder the mystery of life becomes ; the more dreary 
and the more horrible becomes existence. I can conceive 
no dying hour more awful than that of one who has 
aspired to knoio instead of to love, and finds himself at last 
amidst a world of barren facts and lifeless theories, loving 
none and adoring nothing. 

Again, it is Comprehension without Love to man. 

You will observe, these Corinthians had got a most clear 
conception of what Christianity was. {S An idol," said 
they, is " nothing in the world." There is none other God 
but One, and there is i: but one Lord, Jesus Christ, 
by whom are all things and we by Him." Well, said 
the Apostle Paul, and what signifies your profession of 
that, if you look down with supreme contempt on your 
ignorant brothers, who cannot reach to these sublime 
contemplations ? What reality is there in your religion if 
you look at men struggling in darkness, and are content to 
congratulate yourselves that you are in the light ? When 
heathen they had loved these men ; now that they were 



150 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

Christians they despised them ! Was their Christianity 
then, gain or loss ? Did they rise in the scale of man- 
hood or fall ? " Slaves, — idolaters, — superstitious," — 
alas ! is that all they, or we, have learnt to say ? Is that 
all our Christianity has given us ? 

Some of us have been taught that knowledge such as 
this is not advance, but retrogression. We have looked 
on our shelves laden with theology or philosophy, and 
have enumerated the systems which have been mas- 
tered ; and we have felt how immeasurably superior 
in the sight of God is some benighted Romanist, who 
believes in transubstantiation and purgatory, but who has 
gone about doing good, or some ignorant, narrow reli- 
gionist, who has sacrificed time and property to Christ, 
to the most correct theologian in whose heart there is 
no love for his fellow-men. For breadth of view is not 
breadth of heart ; and hence the substance of Christianity 
is love to God and love to man. Hence, too, the last of 
the Apostles, when too weak to walk to the assemblies of 
the Church, was borne there, a feeble old man, by his 
disciples, and addressing the people as he spread abroad 
his hands, repeated again and again — "Love one another;" 
and when asked why he said ever the same thing, replied, 
" Because there is nothing else ; attain that, and you have 
enough." Hence, too, it is a precious fact, that St. Paul, 
the Apostle of Liberty, whose burning intellect expounded 
the whole philosophy of Christianity, should have been the 
one to say that Knowledge is nothing compared to Charity, 
nay, worse than nothing without it : should have been the 
one to declare that "Knowledge shall vanish away, but 
Love never faileth." 



TO THE COBINTHIANS. 151 



LECTURE XVIL 

November 30, 1851. 

1 Corinthians, viii. 8-13. — But meat commendeth us not to God: for 
neither, if we eat, are we the better ; neither, if we eat not, are we the 
worse. — But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become 
a stumbling-block to them that are weak. — For if any man see thee 
which hast knowledge, sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the 
conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things 
which are offered to idols; — And through thy knowledge shall the weak 
brother perish for whom Christ died? — But when ye sin so against the 
brethren and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ. — 
Wherefore if meat make my brother to offend, I Avill eat no flesh while 
the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend." 

We liave already divided this chapter into two branches — 
the former portion of it containing the difference between 
Christian knowledge and secular knowledge, and the 
second portion containing the apostolic exposition of the law 
of Christian conscience. The first of these we endeavoured 
to expound last Sunday, but it may be well briefly to 
recapitulate the principles of that discourse in a somewhat 
different form. Corinth, as we all know and remember, w as 
a city built on the sea coast, having a large and free com- 
munication with all foreign nations ; and there was also 
within it, and going on amongst its inhabitants, a free 
interchange of thought, and a vivid power of communi- 
cating the philosophy and truths of those days to each 
other. Now it is plain that to a society in such a state, 
and to minds so educated, the gospel of Christ must have 
presented a peculiar attraction, presenting itself to them 



152 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

as it did, as a law of Christian liberty. And so, in Corinth 
the gospel had " free course and was glorified," and was 
received with great joy by almost all men, and by minds 
of all classes and all sects ; and a large number of these 
attached themselves to the teaching of the Apostle Paul 
as the most accredited expounder of Christianity— the 
" royal law of liberty." But it seems, from what we read 
in this Epistle, that a large number of these men received 
Christianity as a thing intellectual, and that alone — and 
not as a thing which touched the conscience, and swayed 
and purified the affections. And so, this liberty became 
to them almost all — they ran into sin or went to extrava- 
gance — they rejoiced in their freedom from the supersti- 
tions, the ignorances, and the scruples which bound their 
weaker brethren ; but had no charity — none of that intense 
charity which characterized the Apostle Paul, for those 
still struggling in the delusions and darkness from which 
they themselves were free. More than that, they de- 
manded their right, their Christian liberty of expressing 
their opinions in the church, merely for the sake of 
exhibiting the Christian graces and spiritual gifts which had 
been showered upon them so largely; until by degrees 
those very assemblies became a lamentable exhibition of 
their own depravity, and led to numerous irregularities 
which we find severely rebuked by the Apostle Paul. 
Their women, rejoicing in the emancipation which had 
been given to the Christian community, laid aside the old 
habits of attire which had been consecrated so long by 
Grecian and Jewish custom, and appeared with their 
heads uncovered in the Christian community. Still further 
than that, the Lord's Supper exhibited an absence of all 



TO THE COKINTHIANS. 153 

solemnity, and seemed more a meeting for licentious gra- 
tification, where " one was hungry, and another was 
drunken" — a place in which earthly drunkenness, the 
mere enjoyment of the appetites, had taken the place of 
Christian charity towards each other. And the same feel- 
ing — this love of mere liberty — liberty in itself — mani- 
fested itself in many other directions. Holding by this 
freedom, their philosophy taught that the body, that is, the 
flesh, was the only cause of sin ; that the soul was holy and 
pure; and that, therefore, to be free from the body would 
be entire, perfect, Christian emancipation. And so came 
in that strange wrong doctrine, exhibited in Corinth, where 
immortality was taught separate from and in opposition to 
the doctrine of the Resurrection. And afterwards they 
went on with their conclusions about liberty, to maintain 
that the body, justified by the sacrifice of Christ, was no 
longer capable of sin; and that in the evil which was done 
by the body, the soul had taken no part. And therefore 
sin was to them but as a name, from which a Christian 
conscience was to be freed altogether. So that when one 
of their number had fallen into grievous sin, and had com- 
mitted fornication, " such as was not so much as named 
among the Gentiles," so far from being humbled by it, 
they were " puffed up," as if they were exhibiting to the 
world an enlightened, true, perfect Christianity — separate 
from all prejudices. To such a society and to such a state 
of mind the Apostle Paul preached, in all their length, 
breadth, and fulness, the humbling doctrines of the Cross 
of Christ. He taught that knowledge was one thing — 
that charity was another thing ; that " knowledge puffeth 
up, but charity buildeth up." He reminded them that 



154 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

love was the perfection of knowledge. In other words, 
his teaching came to this : there are two kinds of know- 
ledge ; the one the knowledge of the intellect, the other 
the knowledge of the heart. Intellectually, God never can 
be known; He must be known by Love — for, "if any man 
love God, the same is known of Him." Here, then, we 
have arrived, in another way, at precisely the same con- 
clusion at which we arrived last Sunday. Here, are two 
kinds of knowledge, secular knowledge and Christian 
knowledge ; and Christian knowledge is this — to know by 
Love. 

Let us now consider the remainder of the chapter, 
which treats of the law of Christian conscience. You 
will observe that it divides itself into two branches — the 
first containing an exposition of the law itself, and the 
second, the Christian applications which flow out of this 
exposition. 

1. The way in which the Apostle expounds the law of 
Christian conscience is this : — Guilt is contracted by the 
soul, m so far as it sins against and transgresses the law of 
God, by doing that which it believes to be wrong : not so 
much what is wrong, as what appears to it to be wrong. 
This is the doctrine distinctly laid down in the 7th and 
8th verses. The Apostle tells the Corinthians — these 
strong-minded Corinthians — that the superstitions of their 
weaker brethren were unquestionably wrong. " Meat," 
he says, " commendeth us not to God ; for neither if we 
eat are we the better ; neither if we eat not are we the 
worse." He then tells them further, that " there is not 
in every man that knowledge ; for some, with conscience 
of the idol, eat it as a thing offered unto an idol." Here, 



TO THE eOEZNTBIAKS. 155 

then, is an ignorant, mistaken, ill-informed conscience ; 
and vet he goes on to tell them that this conscience, so 
ill-informed, yet binds the possessor of it : " and their 
conscience, being weak, is defiled." For example ; there 
could be no harm in eating the flesh of an animal that 
had been offered to an idol or false god ; for a false god 
is nothing, and it is impossible for it to have contracted 
positive defilement by being offered to that which is a 
positive and absolute negation. And yet if any man 
thought it wrong to eat such flesh, to him it teas wrong ; 
for in that act there would be a deliberate act of trans- 
gression — a deliberate preference of that which was mere 
enjoyment, to that which was apparently, though it may 
be only apparently, sanctioned by the law of God. And 
so it would carry with it all the disobedience, all the 
guilt, and all the misery which belongs to the doing of an 
act altogether wrong ; or, as St. Paul expresses it, the 
conscience would become defiled. 

Here, then, we arrive at the first distinction — the dis- 
tinction between absolute and relative right and wrong. 
Absolute right and absolute wrong, like absolute truth, 
can each be but one and unalterable in the sight of God. 
The one absolute right — the charity of God and the sacri- 
fice of Christ — this, from eternity to eternity must be the 
sole measure of eternal right. But human right or human 
wrong, that is, the merit or demerit of any action done by 
any particular man, must be measured, not by that abso- 
lute standard, but as a matter relative to his particular 
circumstances, the state of the age in which he lives, and 
his own knowledge of right and wrong. For we come 
into this world with a moral sense ; or, to speak more 



156 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES 

Christianly, with a conscience. And yet that will tell us 
but very little distinctly. It tells us broadly that which 
is right and that which is wrong, so that every child can 
understand this. That charity and self-denial are right — 
this we see recognized in almost every nation. But the 
boundaries of these two — when and how far self-denial is 
right — what are the bounds of charity — this it is for dif- 
ferent circumstances yet to bring out and determine. And 
so, it will be found that there .is a different standard 
among different nations and in different ages. That, for 
example, which was the standard among the Israelites in 
the earlier ages, and before their settlement in Canaan, 
was very different from the higher and truer standard of 
right and wrong recognised by the later prophets. And 
the standard in the third and fourth centuries after Christ 
was truly and unquestionably an entirely different one 
from that recognised in the nineteenth century among 
ourselves. Let me not be mistaken. I do not say that 
right and w r rong are merely conventional, or merely 
chronological or geographical, or that they vary with 
latitude and longitude. I do not say that there ever was 
or ever can be a nation so utterly blinded and perverted 
in its moral sense as to acknowledge that which is wrong 
— seen and known to be wrong — as right; or, on the 
other hand, to profess that which is seen and understood 
as right, to be wrong. But what I do say is this : that 
the form and aspect in which different deeds appear, so 
vary, that there will be for ever a change and alteration 
in men's opinions, and that which is really most generous 
may seem most base, and that which is really most base 
may appear most generous. So, for example, as I have 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 157 

already said, there are two things universally recognised 
— recognised as right by every man whose conscience is 
not absolutely perverted — charity and self-denial. The 
charity of God, the sacrifice of Christ — these are the two 
grand, leading principles of the Gospel ; and in some form 
or other you will find these lying at the roots of every 
profession and state of feeling in almost every age. But 
the form in which these appear will vary with all the 
gradations which are to be found between the lowest 
savage state and the highest and most enlightened 
Christianity. 

For example : in ancient Israel the law of love was 
expounded thus : — " Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and 
hate thine enemy." Among the American Indians and 
at the Cape, the only homage perchance given to self- 
denial was the strange admiration given to that prisoner 
of war who bore with unflinching fortitude the torture of 
his country's enemies. In ancient India the same principle 
was exhibited, but in a more strange and perverted man- 
ner. The homage there given to self-denial, self-sacrifice, 
was this — that the highest form of religion was considered 
to be that exhibited by the devotee who sat in a tree until 
the birds had built their nests in his hair — until his nails, 
like those of the King of Babylon, had grown like birds' 
talons — until they had grown into his hands — and he 
became absorbed into the Divinity. We will take another 
instance, and one better known. In ancient Sparta it 
was the custom to teach children to steal. And here 
there would seem to be a contradiction to our proposition 
— here it would seem as if right and wrong were matters 
merely conventional ; for surely stealing can never be 



158 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

anything but wrong. But if we look deeper we shall see 
that there is no contradiction here. It was not steal- 
ing which was admired ; the child was punished if the 
theft was discovered ; but it was the dexterity which was 
admired, and that because it was a warlike virtue, neces- 
sary, it may be, to a people in continual rivalry with their 
neighbours. It was not that honesty was despised and 
dishonesty esteemed, but that honesty and dishonesty 
were made subordinate to that which appeared to them 
of higher importance, namely, the duty of concealment. 
And so we come back to the principle which we laid 
down at first. In every age, among all nations, the same 
broad principle remains ; but the application of it varies. 
The conscience may be ill-informed, and in this sense 
only are right and wrong conventional — varying with 
latitude and longitude, depending upon chronology and 
geography. 

The principle laid down by the Apostle Paul is this : — 
A man will be judged, not by the abstract law of God, 
not by the rule of absolute right, but much rather by the 
relative law of conscience. This he states most distinctly 
— looking at the question on both sides. That which 
seems to a man to be right is, in a certain sense, right to 
him ; and that which seems to a man to be wrong, in a 
certain sense is wrong to him. For example : he says, in 
his Epistle to the Romans (v. 14), that " sin is not im- 
puted when there is no law ;" in other words, if a man 
does not really know a thing to be wrong, there is a sense 
in which, if not right to him, it ceases to be so wrong 
as it would otherwise be. With respect to the other of 
these sides, however, the case is still more distinct and 



TO THE COKINTHIANS. 159 

plain. Here, in the judgment which the Apostle delivers 
in the parallel chapter of the Epistle to the Romans (the 
14th), he says, " I know, and am persuaded of the Lord 
Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him 
that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is un- 
clean." In other words, whatever may be the abstract 
merits of the question — however in God's jurisprudence 
any particular act may stand — to you, thinking it to be 
wrong, it manifestly is wrong, and your conscience will 
gather round it a stain of guilt if you do it. In order to 
understand this more fully, let us take a few instances. 
There is a difference between truth and veracity. Veracity 
— mere veracity — is a small, poor thing. Truth is some- 
thing greater and higher. Veracity is merely the corre- 
spondence between some particular statement and facts ; 
truth is the correspondence between a man's whole soul 
and reality. It is possible for a man to say that which, 
unknown to him, is false ; and yet he may be true ; be- 
cause, if deprived of truth, he is deprived of it unwil- 
lingly. It is possible, on the other hand, for a man to 
utter veracities, and yet at the very time that he is utter- 
ing those veracities to be false to himself, to his brother, 
and to his God. One of the most signal instances of this 
is to be seen in the Book of Job. Most of what Job's 
friends said to him were veracious statements. Much of 
what Job said for himself was unveracious and mistaken. 
And yet those veracities of theirs were so torn from all 
connection with fact and truth, that they became false- 
hoods ; and they were, as has been said, nothing more than 
" orthodox liars " in the sight of God. On the other hand, 
Job, blundering perpetually, and falling into false doctrine, 



160 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES 

was yet a true man — searching for and striving after the 
truth ; and if deprived of it for a time, deprived of it with 
all his heart and soul unwillingly. And, therefore, it was 
that at last the Lord appeared out of the whirlwind, to 
confound the men of mere veracity, and to stand by and 
support the honour of the heartily true. 

Let us apply the principle further. It is a matter of 
less importance that a man should state true views, than 
that he should state views truly. We will put this in its 
strongest form. Unitarianism is false — Trinitarianism is 
true. But yet, in the sight of God, and with respect to a 
man's eternal destinies hereafter, it would surely be better 
for him earnestly, honestly, truly, to hold the doctrines of 
Unitarianism, than in a cowardly or indifferent spirit, or 
influenced by authority, or from considerations of interest, 
or for the sake of lucre, to hold the doctrines of Trinita- 
rianism. For instance : — Not many years ago, the Church 
of Scotland was severed into two great divisions, and gave 
to this age a marvellous proof that there is still amongst 
us the power of living faith — when five hundred ministers 
gave up all that earth holds dear — position in the church 
they had loved; friendships and affections formed, and 
consecrated by long fellowship, in its communion; and 
almost their hopes of gaining a livelihood — rather than 
assert a principle which seemed to them to be a false one. 
Now, my brethren, surely the question hi such a case for 
us to consider is not this, merely — whether of the two 
sections held the abstract right — held the principle in its 
integrity — but surely far rather, this : who on either side 
was true to the light within, true to God, true to the truth 
as God had revealed it to his soul. 



TO THE COKIXTHIAXS. 161 

Now 3 it is precisely upon this principle that we are 
enabled to indulge a Christian hope that many of those 
who in ancient times were persecutors^ for example, may 
yet be absolved at the bar of Christ. Nothing can make 
persecution right — it is wrong, essentially, eternally wrong 
in the sight of God. And yet, if a man sincerely and 
assuredly thinks that Christ has laid upon him a command 
to persecute with fire and sword, it is surely better that 
he should, in spite of all feelings of tenderness and compas- 
sion, cast aside the dearest affections at the supposed com- 
mand of his Redeemer, than that he should, in mere laxity 
and tenderness, turn aside from what seems to him to be 
his duty. At least, this appears to be the opinion of the 
Apostle Paul. He tells us that he was " a blasphemer 
and a persecutor and injurious," that " he did many things 
contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth," that " being 
exceedingly mad against the disciples, he persecuted them 
even unto strange cities." But he tells us further that, 
" for this cause he obtained mercy, because he did it 
ignorantly in unbelief." Xow, take a case precisely opposite. 
In ancient times the Jews did that by which it appeared to 
them that they would contract defilement and guilt — they 
spared the lives of the enemies which they had taken in 
battle. Brethren, the eternal law is, that charity is right, 
and that law is eternally right which says, " Thou shalt 
love thine enemy." And had the Jews acted upon this 
principle they would have done well to spare their enemies : 
but they did it thinking it to be wrong, transgressing that 
law which commanded them to slay then idolatrous ene- 
mies, not from generosity, but in cupidity — not from 



162 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

charity, but from lax zeal. And doing thus, the act was 
altogether wrong. 

2. Such is the Apostle's exposition of the law of 
Christian conscience. Let us now, in the second place, 
consider the applications, both of a personal and of a public 
nature, which arise out of it. 

The first application is a personal one. It is this: — 
Do what seems to you to be right : it is only so that you 
will at last learn by the grace of God to see clearly what 
is right. A man thinks within himself that it is God's 
law and God's will that he should act thus and thus. 
There is nothing possible for us to say — there is no 
advice for us to give, — but this, " You must so act." He 
is responsible for the opinions he holds, and still more- 
for the way in which he arrived at them — whether in a 
slothful and selfish, or in an honest and truth-seeking 
manner; but being now his soul's convictions, you can 
give no other law than this — " You must obey your con- 
science." For no man's conscience gets so seared by doing 
what is wrong unknowingly, as by doing that which ap- 
pears to be wrong to his conscience. The Jews' con- 
sciences did not get seared by their slaying the Canaanites, 
but they did become seared by their failing to do what 
appeared to them to be right. Therefore, woe to you if 
you do what others think right, instead of obeying the 
dictates of your own conscience ; woe to you if you allow 
authority, or prescription, or fashion, or influence, or any 
other human thing, to interfere with that awful and sacred 
thing — your own responsibility. ee Every man," said the 
Apostle, " must give an account of himself to God." 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 163 

The second application of this principle has reference 
to others. No doubt, to the large, free, enlightened mind 
of the Apostle Paul, all these scruples and superstitions 
must have seemed mean, trivial, and small indeed. It 
was a matter to him of far less importance that truth 
should he established than that it should be arrived at 
truly — a matter of far less importance, even, that right 
should be done, than that right should be done rightly. 
Conscience was far more sacred to him than even Liberty 
— it was to him a prerogative far more precious to assert 
the rights of Christian conscience, than to magnify the 
privileges of Christian liberty. The scruple may be small 
and foolish, but it may be impossible to uproot the scruple 
without tearing up the feeling of the sanctity of conscience, 
and of reverence for the law of God, associated with this 
scruple. And therefore the Apostle Paul counsels these 
men to abridge their Christian liberty, and not to eat of 
those things which had been sacrificed to idols, but to have 
compassion upon the scruples of their weaker brethren. 
And this, for two reasons : — The first of these is a mere 
reason of Christian feeling. It might cause exquisite pain 
to sensitive minds to see those things which appeared to 
them to be wrong, done by Christian brethren. Now you 
may take a parallel case. It may be, if you will, mere 
superstition to bow at the name of Jesus. It may be, and 
no doubt is, founded upon a mistaken interpretation of 
that passage in the Epistle to the Philippians (ii. 10), which 
says that " at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow." 
But there are many congregations in which this has been 
the long-established rule, and there are many Christians 
who would feel pained to see such a practice discontinued 

m2 



164 LECTUHES ON THE EPISTLES 

— as if it implied a declension from the reverence due to 
" that name which is above every name." Now, what in 
this case is the Christian duty ? Is it this — to stand upon 
our Christian liberty ? Or is it not rather this — to com- 
ply with a prejudice which is manifestly a harmless one, 
rather than give pain to a Christian brother ? Take ano- 
ther case. It may be a mistaken scruple, but there is no 
doubt that it causes much pain to many Christians to see 
a carriage used on the Lord's day. But you, with higher 
views of the spirit of Christianity, who know that " the 
Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath" 
— who can enter more deeply into the truth taught by our 
blessed Lord, that every day is to be dedicated to Him and 
consecrated to His service — upon the high principle of 
Christian liberty, you can use your carriage — you can 
exercise your liberty. But if there are Christian brethren 
to whom this would give pain — then I humbly, but most 
earnestly, ask you — What is the duty here? Is it not 
this — to abridge your Christian liberty — and to go through 
rain, and mud, and snow, rather than give pain to one 
Christian conscience ? I will give one more instance. The 
words, and garb, and customs of that sect of Christians 
called Quakers, may be formal enough ; founded no doubt, 
as in the former case, upon a mistaken interpretation of a 
passage in the Bible. But they are at least harmless ; and 
have long been associated with the simplicity, and bene- 
volence, and devout humbleness of this body of Chris- 
tians — the followers of one who, three hundred years ago, 
set out upon the glorious enterprise of making all men 
friends. Now, would it be Christian, or would it not 
rather be something; more than un-Christian — would it not 



TO TEE CORINTHIANS. 165 

also be gross rudeness and coarse unfeelingness to treat 
such words, and habits, and customs, with anything but 
respect and reverence ? 

Further : the Apostle enjoined this duty of abridg- 
ing their Christian liberty upon the Corinthian converts, 
not merely because to indulge it might give pain to others, 
but also because it might even lead their brethren into 
sin. For, if any man should eat of the flesh offered to an 
idol, feeling himself justified by his conscience, it were 
well : but if any man, overborne by authority or interest, 
were to do this, not according to conscience, but against 
it, there would be a distinct and direct act of disobedience 
— a conflict between his sense of right, and the gratifica- 
tion of his appetites or the power of influence ; and then 
his compliance would as much damage his conscience and 
moral sense as if the act had been wrong in itself. 

Now, in the personal application of these remarks, there 
are three things which I have to say. The first is 
this: — Distinguish, I pray you, between this tenderness 
for a brother's conscience and mere time-serving. This 
same Apostle, whom Ave here see so gracefully giving 
way upon the ground of expediency when Christian 
principles were left entire, was the same who stood firm 
and strong as a rock, when anything was demanded 
which trenched upon Christian principle. When some 
required, as a matter of necessity for salvation, that 
these converts should be circumcised, the Apostle says — 
i{ To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an 
hour ! " It was not indifference — it was not cowardice 
— it was not the mere love of peace, purchased by the 
sacrifice of principle, that prompted this counsel — but 



166 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

it was Christian love — that delicate and Christian love 
which dreads to tamper with the sanctities of a brother's 
conscience. 

The second thing w r e have to say is this — that this 
abridgment of their liberty is a duty more especially in- 
cumbent upon all who are possessed of influence. There 
are some men, happily for themselves we may say, who 
are so insignificant that they can take their course 
quietly in the valleys of life, and who can exercise the 
fullest Christian liberty without giving pain to others. 
But it is the price which all, who are possessed of in- 
fluence, must pay — that their acts must be measured, 
not in themselves, but according to their influence on 
others. So, my Christian brethren, to bring this matter 
home to every-day experience and common life, if the 
landlord uses his authority and influence to induce his 
tenant to vote against his conscience, it may be he has 
secured one voice to the principle which is right, or, at 
all events, to that which seemed to him to be right : 
but he has gained that single voice at the sacrifice and 
expense of a brother's soul. Or, again — if for the sake 
of ensuring personal politeness and attention, the rich 
man puts a gratuity into the hand of a servant of some 
company which has forbidden him to receive it, he gains 
the attention, he ensures the politeness, but he gains it 
at the sacrifice and expense of a man and a Christian 
brother. 

The last remark which we have to make is this: — 
How possible it is to mix together the vigour of a mas- 
culine and manly intellect with the tenderness and charity 
which is taught by the gospel of Christ ! No man ever 



TO THE COEIXTHIASS. 167 

breathed so freely when on earth the air and atmosphere 
of heaven as the Apostle Paul — no man ever soared so 
high above all prejudices, narrowness, littlenesses, scru- 
ples, as he : and yet no man ever bound himself as Paul 
bound himself to the ignorance, the scruples, the preju- 
dices of his brethren. So that, what in other cases was 
infirmity, imbecility, and superstition, gathered round 
it in his case the pure high spirit of Christian charity 
and Christian delicacy. And now, out of the writings, 
and sayings, and deeds of those who loudly proclaim 
" the rights of man " and the " rights of liberty," match 
us if you can with one sentence so sublime, so noble, — 
one that will so stand at the bar of God hereafter, — as 
this single glorious sentence of his, in which he asserts the 
rights of Christian conscience above the claims of Christian 
liberty — " Wherefore if meat make my brother to offend, 
I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make 
my brother to offend." 



168 LECTURES ON TEE EPISTLES 



LECTURE XVIII. 

December 7, 1851. 

Corinthians, ix. — "Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not 
seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord? — 
If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the 
seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord. — Mine answer to them that 
do examine me is this, — Have we not power to eat and to drink? — 
Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other 
apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas? — Or I only and 
Barnabas, have not we power to forbear working? — Who goeth a war- 
fare any time at his own charges? whoplanteth a vineyard, and eateth 
not of the fruit thereof ? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the 
milk of the flock? — Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law 
the same also? — For it is -written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not 
muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take 
care for oxen? — Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, 
no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; 
and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. — If 
we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall 
reap your carnal things? — If others be partakers of this power over 
you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power; 
but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. — Do ye 
not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things 
of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with 
the altar ? — Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach 
the gospel should live of the gospel. — But I have used none of these 
things: neither have I written these things, that it should be so done 
unto me: for it were better for me to die, than that any man should 
make my glorying void. — For though I preach the gospel, I have 
nothing to glory of : for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto 
me, if I preach not the gospel! — For if I do this thing willingly, I have 
a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is com- 
mitted unto me. — What is my reward then? Verily that, when I 
preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, 
that I abuse not my power in the gospel. — For though I be free from 
all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain 



TO THE COFJNTEIANS. 169 

the more. — And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain 
the Jews ; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I 
might gain them that are under the law; — To them that are without 
law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law 
to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. — To the weak 
became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things 
to all men, that I might by all means save some. — And this I do for 
the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. — Know 
ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the 
prize? So run, that ye may obtain. — And every man that striveth 
for the mastery is temperate in all things. IsTow they do it to obtain a 
corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. — I therefore so run, not as 
uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: — But I keep 
under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that lay any means, 
when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." 

This last verse is unintelligible, except taken in connection 
with the preceding part of the chapter. It is commonly 
quoted in the Calvinistic Controversy, to prove or disprove 
the possibility of the believer's final fall. It is contended 
by some that St. Paul was not certain of salvation, and 
that it was possible after all his labour in the cause of 
Christ, he might be a castaway. In reality, the passage 
has nothing whatever to do with this. The word here 
translated "castaway,"' is literally "reprobate," — that 
which being tested fails. " Reprobate silver shall men call 
them :" St. Paul says, " Lest after, when I have preached 
to others, I myself, when tried by the same standard, 
should fail." We shall find that this will become more 
intelligible by the exposition of this chapter. 

In the last chapter St. Paul had laid down the principle 
that it was good to avoid all injury to the scruples and 
conscientious superstitions of weaker brethren. When 
Christian liberty permits indulgence — very often Chris- 
tian love says, " Abstain." As in the sentence, " Wherefore 
if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh 



170 LECTTJBES OX TEE EPISTLES 

while tlie world standeih, lest I make my brother to 
offend." 

Let us. hawever 3 understand the Apostle's principle, so 

as not to misrepresent or exaggerate it. Distinguish this 
principle of avoiding offence to conscientious scruples. 
from yielding to all scruples. You are not, in order to 
avoid hurting another's conscience, to act against your 

own. Nor are you to yield or concede in a case where 
his conscience or scruples recommend something wrong. 
In this case conscience required the Corinthians to do 

what was evidently harmless : abstaining from eating 
meats was an act oi reverence to God, and was accepted 
by Him because done in faith. So in the instances 
alleged in the last lecture — the dress of the Quakers — 
bowing at the name of Jesus — the abstinence from a 
cavil in these matters is accepted just as the sacrifices 
were. For you would be pleased if an ignorant person 
were to present you with something you did not value, 
but on which, because he thought you did value it, he 
had spent time and pains. To you it is worthless intrin- 
sically, but as an evidence of affection it is invaluable. 

So in the case of fasting — abstinence on certain days 
is well pleasing to God. if done in faith. And it would 
be rude and coarse, harsh and unloving to sneer at such 
acts, or to tempt men who believe them to be sacred 
duties, by ridicule or example, to give them up. 

But if something were done which is not only not com- 
manded, but forbidden, it is no Christian duty to connive. 
You would bow at the name of Jesus because, where it 
was universally the custom, you might hurt the feelings 
of your brethren by refusing to do so : but vou would 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 171 

not bow at the passing of the host, because that would 
imply belief in a downright falsehood; and, therefore, 
as you could not avoid insulting a Romish prejudice, 
you would hold it to be your duty to absent yourself 
from the most magnificent ceremony, or from the sublimest 
music that ever thrilled through St. Peter's. 

Again, let us note another exception. Practices which 
in themselves are harmless may be withstood, because of 
their consequences at peculiar times. Thus St. Paul was 
gentle about trifles, whereas the Reformers were stiff. He 
yielded to Jewish prejudices about sacrifices, because they 
implied reverence to a truth. They were unyielding in 
the matter of Romish rites and forms — trifling; enough in 
themselves — because they implied adherence to false and 
dangerous errors. And so, too, St. Paul at one time 
circumcised Timothy because it implied symbolic holiness. 
At another he refused to circumcise Titus, because it was 
then and there reckoned essential to salvation, and for that 
reason insisted on. 

This, then, was St. Paul's principle. But to this teaching 
an objection might be raised. Some may say, It is easy 
enough to advise : fine doctrine this of conscience and 
tenderness to weaker brethren — conscientious prejudices. 
Does the Apostle practise what he preaches ? Or is it 
merely a fine sentiment? Does he preach to others — 
himself being a castaway — that is, one who being tested 
is found wanting ? 

The whole of the ninth chapter bears on this question. 
It is an assertion of his own consistency. He proves 
that he submitted himself for love's sake to restriction, to 
which he was not in absolute dutv bound. 



172 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

I. The first part of this chapter is occupied in proving 
his right to certain privileges. 

II. His salutary abstinence from many of them. 

I. The privileges to which he had a right were domestic 
solaces and ministerial maintenance. Have we not power 
to lead about a sister-wife, that is, a wife who was one of 
the Christian sisterhood ? Have we not, Barnabas and I, 
power to forbear working ? The right to the first of these 
privileges he proves by the position of the other Apostles. 
Cephas and others were married men. His right to the 
second, that of maintenance, he proves by his Apostleship, 
"Am I not an Apostle? Am I not free?" that is, not 
compelled to labour. 

The apostolic or ministerial right, he bases on four argu- 
ments. 1. By a principle universally recognised in human 
practice. A king warring on behalf of a people, wars at 
their charge — a planter of a vineyard expects to eat of 
the fruit — a shepherd is entitled to eat of the milk of the 
flock. All who toil for the good of others derive an 
equivalent from them. Gratuitous devotion of life is 
nowhere considered obligatory. 2. By a principle implied 
in a scriptural particular enactment, e: Thou shalt not 
muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn." Did God, in 
this, take special care for oxen ? or was it a great general 
principle, — human, not confined to a single isolated case, 
but capable of extension to the plougher and the sower. 
The ox was provided for, not because it was an ox, but 
because it was a labourer. 3. By a principle of fairness 
and reciprocity, as taught in the second verse, great 
services establish a claim. One who has saved another's 
life has a right to recompence. It is not merely a matter 



TO THE COFJXTHIAKS. 173 

of option. If they owed to the Apostle their souls, his 
time had a claim on their gold. 4. By the law of 
the Temple Service, the priests were supported by a special 
provision: animals sacrificed to God belonged partly to 
them. The whole Jewish ritual — the institution of Levites 
and priests, — implied the principle that there are two kinds 
of labour — of hand and of brain : and that the toilers 
with the brain, though not producers, have a claim on the 
community. They are essential to its well-being, and are 
not mere drones. By all these arguments he proves his 
right. 

Now it is our business at this time to insist on the right. 
True, the Apostle waived it for himself; but he did this 
under special circumstances. He felt peculiarly bound, as 
specially and wonderfully saved. He had a peculiar gift 
qualifying him for celibacy. He lived in peculiar times, 
when it was necessary to have unmistakeably clean hands, 
to be above all suspicion of mercenary motives. 

But what was a duty in his case might be contrary 
to duty in another ; for example, when a family is to be 
maintained, the forfeiture of the stipend would be distinctly 
wrong. There is, therefore, no shame in receiving hire ; 
there is no disc-race in toil, no dishonour in receiving 
wages. It is a false shame and false delicacy to feel that 
the fee with hire is a stain, or the receiving of it a mer- 
cenary act. 

II. We consider, secondly, his own valiant abstinence from 
these privileges and indulgences (verses 12, 15.) And, 
first, his reasons. In order to do his work in a free, 
princely, and not a slavish spirit, he was forced to preach 
the gospel, and for the preaching of it no thanks were 



174 LECTUEES ON THE EPISTLES 

due. If he did it against his will, a dispensation of the 
gospel was committed to him, and " woe is unto me, 
if I preach not the gospel ! " He was bound to do it. 
But he turned his necessity to glorious gain. That was 
his " reward," that is, made him rewardable — by for- 
feiting pay he got reward : and in doing freely what he 
must do, he became free. When " I must " is changed 
into " I will," you are free. And so in a profession you 
dislike — an alliance which is distasteful — a duty that must 
be done — acquiescence is Christian liberty. It is deliver- 
ance from the Law. 

His second reason was to gain others. " For though I 
be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto 
all, that I might gain the more." For this was only one 
instance out of many ; his whole life was one great illus- 
tration of the principle : free from all, he became the 
servant of all. He condescended to the mode of looking 
at life, that w^as peculiar to the Gentiles with respect to 
their education and associations : to the Jews also, when 
form was expressive of a true reverential spirit. Nor less 
to the weak and superstitious; he sympathized with their 
weakness, tried to understand them, and to feel as 
they felt. 

Lastly, consider the general principles of our human life. 
The conditions of this existence are not that you can run 
as you will — but they are as the conditions of a race : 
" Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but 
one receiveth the prize? So rmi, that ye may obtain." 
You cannot go on saying, I have a right to do this, there- 
fore I will do it; You must think how it will appear, not 
for the sake of mere respectability, or merely to obtain a 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 175 

character for consistency, but for the sake of others. And 
its conditions are as those of a wrestling match — you must 
he temperate in all things — that is, abstain from even lawful 
indulgences. Tor he who trained for the amphitheatre 
abridged himself of indulgences which, under other circum- 
stances, he might and would have used. Then the Apostle 
closes his triumphant argument : " I therefore so run, not 
as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:" 
— not at hazard, but taking it coolly, as if sure of victory. 

Remember, no man liveth to himself. The cry, " Am I 
my brother's keeper ? " is met by St, Paul's clear, steadfast 
answer, " You are." Herein is opened out to us the exceed- 
ing love of the Christian Life. Heathenism, in its highest 
efforts, contented itself with doing right : Christianity 
demands that your right shall not lead others wrong : that 
it shall do no violence to that most sacred and delicate 
thing, a Human Conscience. 

There is another inference from this chapter, which is 
entirely incidental. In the first part of the chapter, Paul 
introduces the name of Barnabas as associated with him- 
self as his fellow worker. Now, in earlier life, these 
tw T o men had quarrelled about Mark, the nephew of 
Barnabas ; and from that time to this, outwardly 
there had been an estrangement, but now there comes 
forth this most touching recollection of their past friend- 
ship. Let us learn from this what it is that binds men 
truly together. It is not union in pleasures, for the 
companions of our pleasures are separated from us, and 
we look back to them only with pain and shame. That 
which separated these two men was in one a sterner sense 
of duty ; in the other, a tenderness of love ; but that 



176 LECTUEES ON THE EPISTLES 

which bound them one for ever was self-sacrifice. If 
there were too much tenderness in Barnabas, there was 
no love of gold, for he, like Paul, preached the Gospel 
without charge. Union in God through the sacrifice 
of self — this is alone the indissoluble union; all others 
are for time. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 177 



LECTURE XIX. 

December 14, 1851. 

1 Corixthiaxs, x. — " Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be 
ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all 
passed through the sea; — And were all baptized unto Moses in the 
cloud and in the sea; — And did all eat the same spiritual meat; — And 
did all drink the same spiritual drink : for they drank of that spiritual 
Rock that followed them : and that Rock was Christ. — But with many 
of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the 
wilderness. — Now these things were our examples, to the intent we 
should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. — Neither be ye 
idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down 
to eat and drink, and rose up to play. — Neither let us commit fornica- 
tion, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty 
thousand. — Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, 
and were destroyed of serpents. — Neither murmur ye, as some of them 
also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. — Now all these 
things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for 
our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. — Where- 
fore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. — There 
hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man : but God 
is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are 
able ; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye 
may be able to bear it. — Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from 
idolatry. — I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say. — The cup of 
blessing Avhich we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of 
Christ ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the 
body of Christ? — For we being many are one bread, and one body: 
for we are all partakers of that one bread. — Behold Israel after the 
flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? — 
What say I then ? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered 
in sacrifice to idols is any thing ? — But I say, that the things which 
the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God : and I 
would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. — Ye cannot 
drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be par- 
takers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils. — Do we provoke 
the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he? — All things are lawful 

N 



178 LECTURES ON TEE EPISTLES 

for me, hut all things are not expedient : all things are lawful for me, 
hut all things edify not. — Let no man seek his own, but every man 
another's wealth. — Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking 
no question for conscience sake: — For the earth is the Lord's, and the 
fulness thereof. — If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and 
ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no ques- 
tion for conscience sake. — But if any man say unto you, This is offered 
in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for con- 
science sake : for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof: — 
Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other: for why is my 
liberty judged of another man's conscience ? — For if I by grace be a 
partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks ? — 
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the 
glory of God. — Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gen- 
tiles, nor to the church of God: — Even as I please all men in all things, 
not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be 
saved." 

This chapter closes with a return to the subject which had 
been already discussed in the eighth and ninth chapters. 
Obviously, the intermediate argument is connected with 
it, although this connexion is not clear at first sight. 
St. Paul had laid down a principle that Christian liberty 
is limited by Christian charity: "All things are lawful 
to me, but all things are not expedient." Then he had 
shown that he himself obeyed the same law which he 
imposed on his converts. He had abridged his own liberty : 
he had foregone his right to domestic solaces and ministerial 
support : he had not preached to others, and been himself 
a castaway. But then this very word "castaway" brought 
the subject into a more serious light, and the idea con- 
tained in it is the hinge on which this chapter turns. 

There was much "light and liberty" in Corinth. Large 
words were there, and a large comprehension of the 
Gospel scheme. But it was light without warmth or life, 
and liberty without charity. There were large words 
without large action, and a faith which worked not by 



TO THE COKINTHIANS. 179 

love. And all this gave rise to serious misgivings in the 
Apostle's mind. This boasted church of Corinth, with its 
sharp and restless intellect, would it stand? Were the 
symptoms it exhibited those of bursting health, or only of 
active disease? So thought St. Paul, and therefore the 
key-note of the whole chapter is the twelfth verse : " Let 
him that thinketk he standeth take heed lest he fall." 
Consider then, I. The danger of the Corinthian Church. 
Their peril lay in their false security : they were 
tempted to think that all things were safe to do, because 
all things were lawful. They were ready to rest satisfied 
with the knowledge that they were God's people, and God's 
Church. Now the Apostle shakes this sense of their safety 
by reminding them that the ancient Church of Israel fell, 
although they had the same privileges : therefore he infers 
that spiritual privileges are not perfect security. Now the 
argument by which he proves that the privileges of ancient 
Israel were similar to theirs, is remarkable. That people 
had a baptism as well as they, and a spiritual food and 
drink : " They were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud 
and in the sea ; and did all eat the same spiritual meat ; 
and did all drink the same spiritual drink." Baptism is 
the solemn profession of our Christianity : and the passing 
through the Red Sea was the Israelites' profession of dis- 
cipleship to Moses: then they passed the Rubicon, the 
die was cast, and thenceforward there was no return 
for them. One solemn step had severed them for ever 
from Egypt : and the cloud guidance which then began, 
kept the memory of this act before them by a constant 
witness in all their journeyings. So far, then, this is equi- 
valent to baptism, which is discipleship : a sacrament or 

N2 



180 LECTUKE8 ON THE EPISTLES 

oath of obedience, the force of which is kept up and 
recalled by an outward sign. They had another sacra- 
ment in the "rock which followed them." The rock 
did not literally follow them, as the Rabbins have with 
dulness dreamed ; but go where they would, the wondrous 
waters from the rock flowed by their path and camp. 
Figuratively, therefore, it followed, the life of it streamed 
after them : they were never without its life-giving in- 
fluence ; and therefore never destitute of a sacrament : 
"that rock was Christ." And here observe the Apostle's 
view of the " sacramental principle." As Christ said of 
the Bread, " this is my body," so St. Paul declares, " that 
rock was Christ ; " not that the bread was literally trans- 
formed into His body, or that the rock was changed into 
Christ, nor again, merely that bread represented the 
body of Christ, or that the rock represented Christ, but 
this — that which is wondrous in the bread and rock, the 
life-giving power in both, is Christ. The symbol as a 
material is nothing, the spirit in it — Christ — is everything. 
Now the mystic and formalist say these signs, and these 
only, convey grace : sacraments are miraculous. But St. 
Paul says to the Corinthians, the Jews had symbols as 
living as yours. Bread, Wine, Water, Cloud ; it matters 
nought what the material is. Cod's Presence is every- 
thing; God's Power, God's Life — wherever these exist, there 
there is a sacrament. What is the lesson, then, which we 
learn ? Is it that God's Life, and Love, and Grace are 
limited to certain materials, such as the Rock, the Bread, 
or the Wine ? is it that Ave are doing an awful act only 
when we baptize ? or is it not much rather, that all here 
is sacramental, that we live in a fearful and a Divine 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 181 

world ; that every simple meal, that every gushing stream, 
every rolling river and every drifting cloud is the Symbol 
of God, and a sacrament to every open heart ? And the 
power of recognizing and feeling this, makes all the diffe- 
rence between the religious and the irreligious spirit. 
There were those, doubtless, in the wilderness, who saw 
nothing mysterious or wonderful in the following water. 
They rationalised upon its origin : it quenched their 
thirst, and that was all it meant to tJiem. But there 
were others to whom it was the very Love and Power 
of God. 

Having, then, established this parallel, the Apostle draws 
his conclusion. The Jews had as full privileges as you 
Corinthians have, and yet they fell ; you have your privi- 
leges, but you may see in these examples that privileges 
are no cause for security, but only for greater heed. "Let 
him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." But 
according to a common view of the Christian state, it is 
one of easier requirement than the Jewish, more merciful 
and more lax in its commandments and their sanctions. The 
Jews, it is urged, were severely punished if they sinned, but 
Christians may sin, and be more mercifully dealt with. You 
cannot read this Epistle, or that to the Hebrews, and think 
so. (i All these things happened unto them for examples, 
and were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends 
of the world are come." And the punishments which their 
offences met with are specimens of those which we may 
expect. Four special sins of the Israelites are mentioned 
by St. Paul as corresponding to the circumstances in 
which he found the Corinthian Church : idolatry, impu- 
rity, doubt, and discontent. " Is God among us, or not?'? 



182 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

said the people in the wilderness, tempting Jehovah. 
Think you we shall be less punished than they, if we 
similarly tempt our God ? This chapter gives the answer. 
Here, then, we meet a very solemn truth : the sacrifice of 
Christ does not alter God's Will : it does not make sin a 
trifle : it does not make it safer to commit offences. It does 
not abrogate, but declares God's law. i( He that despised 
Moses' law died without mercy under two or three wit- 
nesses ; of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought 
worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and 
put Him to an open shame ! " And these Corinthians were 
boasting of their privileges, vaunting their liberties, talking 
of rights instead of doing duties, speaking of Freedom, 
Brotherhood, and Reason, and all the time the same God 
who judged the people in the wilderness was ruling them 
by the same unalterable laws. 

II. The second thing contained in this chapter is the 
resumption of the argument on the difficulty about eating 
meat offered to idols, with further advice respecting it. 

Let me recall briefly what the difficulty was. If they 
ate the meat they seemed to sanctify idolatry : if they 
abstained, they seemed to say that an idol was a real being, 
and so they gave a sanction to superstition. It was one 
of those circumstances where a true decision on- a duty 
lay in great obscurity. Now the Apostle admits it to be a 
difficulty, but he will not allow them to think it an inex- 
tricable one. There is no excuse here for acting wrong : 
" there has no temptation taken you which is not common 
to man:" there is away of escape, and by it they may 
rescue themselves without either guilt or hypocrisy. He 
had already counselled them to abstain for the sake of 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 183 

Love, lest their example might lead their weaker brethren 
to sin by violating their conscience : now he takes 
higher ground : and this is his argument. Every sacri- 
ficial feast in all religions is a kind of worship: in the 
Christian religion there was the Lord's Supper, and 
all they who participated in that rite were Christians. 
They communicated with Christ, they declared His cha- 
racter was their standard of life : " the Cup of Blessing 
wdiich we bless, is it not the Communion of the Blood of 
Christ?" And, further, in the Jewish religion all who ate 
of the Jewish offerings were Jews ; they professed them- 
selves to be such by sharing in the act. Thus, in the same 
way as all who partook of Christian sacrifices were 
Christians, and all who took part in Jewish were Jews, 
so all who sat at meat in idolatrous feasts communicated 
with idols, and formed one society with idolatrous wor- 
shippers. Such acts as these brought confusion into 
opinion, and the Church : " Ye cannot drink the cup 
of devils." 

Here, however, a difficulty arose. Could the Apostle 
mean this literally? Partaking of Jewish altars, they 
shared, he said, with God ; of Christian, with Christ ; of 
heathen, with idols ! Then the idol was a real thing after 
all? But in answer to this St. Paul explains himself: 
" What say I then ? that the idol is anything, or that 
which is offered in sacrifice to idols anything ? " No : but 
the Gentiles sacrifice their offerings as to a demon. The 
heathen thought it a sacrifice to a real £od, and would 
reckon any one who ate of it as a fellow-worshipper with 
them of a demon : hence the Corinthian Church could not 
do it without conveying a false impression : their presence 



184 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES 

would be taken as a sanction of heathenism. Tims these 
religious banquets being not only an injury to the Church 
but also to the heathen, the Apostle, indignant at this 
wrong, breaks out into forcible language, ee Do we provoke 
the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than He? " 

With St. Paul we infer, in conclusion, two practical 
truths. 

1. The law by which the Lord's Supper binds us to 
God. " Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the 
cup of devils." The term Sacrament has been already 
discussed : that Feast is now called " Communion :" in 
it we have fellowship with God and His Church : it is 
the witness to the communion of saints. To some who 
attend it the Lord's Supper is a mere form ; with others 
it is a means of some good, they know not what. But, 
except so far as it keeps us from evil, it is only a fresh 
cause of guilt : for to go to that table, meaning to sin, 
to be selfish and worldly, — well, then, you are a traitor to 
God and His Church. 

2. The duty of attending to appearances. 

Nothing can be more plain than the wise Christian 
casuistry by which St. Paul taught the Corinthians how to 
avoid hypocrisy on the one side, and a sanction of idolatry 
on the other. They were not to torment themselves with 
unnecessary scruples, else life would be a haunted thing. 
Live on freely and trustfully, said the Apostle ; all things 
are yours. Enjoy all : but if any man be likely to mistake 
the act, if he observe on it, or call it inconsistent, eat not. 
Now we may think this time-serving; but the motive 
made all the difference : " Conscience, I say, not thine 
own, but of the other." Study appearances therefore, so 



TO THE COMNTHIANS. 185 

far as they are likely to be injurious to others. Here 
then is the principle and the rule : we cannot live in 
this world indifferent to appearances. Year by year we 
are more and more taught this truth. It is irksome, no 
doubt, to be under restraint, to have to ask not only, " Does 
God permit this ? " but, " Will it not be misconstrued 
by others?" and to a free, open, fiery spirit, such as the 
Apostle of the Gentiles, doubly irksome, and almost 
intolerable. Nevertheless, it was to him a most solemn 
consideration : Why should I make my goodness and 
my right the occasion of blasphemy ? Truly, then, and 
boldly, and not carelessly, he determined to give no 
offence to Jews or Gentiles, or to the Church of God, but 
to please all men. And the measure or restraint of this 
resolution was, that in carrying it into practice he would 
seek not his own profit, but the profit of many, that they 
might be saved. 



186 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 



LECTURE XX. 

December 21, 1851. 

1 Corinthians, xi. 1-17. — "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of 
Christ. — Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all 
things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you. — But I 
would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the 
head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. — Every 
man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his 
head. — But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head 
uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she 
were shaven. — For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn : 
but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be 
covered. — For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as 
he is the image and glory of God : but the woman is the glory of the 
man. — For the man is not of the woman ; but the woman of the man. — 
Neither w as the man created for the woman ; but the woman for the 
man. — For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head 
because of the angels. — Nevertheless, neither is the man without the 
woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. — For as the 
woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but 
all things of God. — Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman 
pray unto God uncovered ? — Doth not even nature itself teach you, 
that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him ? — But if a woman 
have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a 
covering. — But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such 
custom, neither the churches of God. — Now in this that I declare unto 
you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for 
the worse." 

As the Gospels declare the principles of Christianity, so 
the Epistles exhibit those principles in their application 
to actual life. Specially valuable in this respect is this 
Epistle to the Corinthians, which might be defined as 
Christianity applied to the details of ordinary life. Now 
large principles, when taken up by ardent and enthusiastic 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 187 

minds, without the modifications learnt by experience, are 
almost sure to run into extravagances, and hence the 
spirit of law is by degrees reduced to rules, and guarded 
by customs. Of this danger Christianity, which is a set of 
great principles, partook, a fact well proved by the existent 
state of the Corinthian Church: and for this reason in 
actual life it is expressed in rules and customs, such 
as we find laid down by the Apostle Paul in this Epistle. 
In this chapter we meet two of those extravagant abuses 
of Christian truth which arose from its too enthusiastic 
reception. 

I. Respecting the conduct and deportment of Christian 
women. 

II. Respecting the administration of the Lord's Supper. 
Of the first I will speak to-day. 

A broad principle laid down by Christianity was human 
equality : " One is your Master, even Christ ; " and again, 
" There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond 
nor free, there is neither male nor female, but ye are all 
one in Christ Jesus." Observe, not only is the distinction 
between Jew and Gentile abolished, but also the equality 
of man and woman is declared. We all know how fruit- 
ful a cause of popular commotion the teaching of equality 
has been in every age. Yet it is Scripture doctrine. Now 
similarly, in the Corinthian Church, this doctrine of the 
abolition of distinctions between the sexes threatened to 
lead to much social confusion. A claim was made for 
a right and power in woman to do all that men should 
do. They demanded that they should teach, preach, and 
pray in public, and have political privileges of exact 
equality. Strange too, as it may seem, a Christian 



188 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES 

right was claimed to appear unveiled in the public 
assemblies. 

Now respecting the first of these claims, the Apostle's 
rule was that laid down in 1 Tim. ii. 12 : " But I suffer not a 
woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, 
but to be in silence." Respecting the second, St. Paul 
in this chapter commands the woman not to affect an 
attire that was unbecoming to her sex. Let us first take 
the verses in order which have reference to attire. 

It is one advantage attending on this our habit of expo- 
sition that in turn every part of the Word of God must 
be expounded. Many passages that are rarely treated 
force themselves thus upon us ; and in honesty we are 
bound to pass nothing. And this I hold to be true reve- 
rence for God's Word, true proof of belief in its inspi- 
ration. For many who are vehement upon the doctrine 
of inspiration never read large portions of the Scriptures 
all their lives, and confine their attention to certain pas- 
sages and certain parts of the Bible. Now here are some 
verses which, left to ourselves, we should certainly have 
left untouched, because they are difficult to treat in such 
a way as shall afford no pretext for flippant listeners to 
smile. And really, if they only concerned a transient 
fashion of attire, such as then existed in Corinth, they 
might be omitted, for the Eternal Spirit surely does not 
condescend to fix unalterable rules of dress. But let us 
see what principles lie below St. Paul's decision. 

The first reason of his prohibition is, that it was a rash 
defiance of those established rules of decorum that were 
rooted in the feelings of the country. The veiled head 
in the text is a symbol of dependence, and a token also of 



TO THE CORIKTHLSlKS. 189 

modesty ; for to pray unveiled was to insult all the con- 
ventional feelings of Jew and Gentile. Here let us dis- 
tinguish between rules and principles : of course there is 
no eternal rule in this : it cannot he a law for ever that 
man should appear habited in one way, and woman in 
another, and it is valuable to us only so far as a prin- 
ciple is involved. 

Though iu eastern countries reverence was exhibited 
by taking off the sandal, yet the Holy Ghost has not 
caused tins mode of showing reverence to be imposed 
on the Church, nor yet this fashion of a veil; but the 
principle contained in these observances is not temporary, 
but eternal. If it be true, as it most unquestionably is 
true, that we know not how much of our English libertv 
we owe to our attachment to the past, so also is it almost 
impossible to decide how much of our public morality and 
private purity is owing to that same spirit which refuses 
to overstep the smallest bound of ordinary decorum. 

Once more, the use of the veil was a representation and 
symbol of dependence. It is the doctrine of St. Paul 
that, as Christ is dependent on God, and man is dependent 
on Christ, so is woman dependent on man. St. Paul 
perceived that the law of Christian equality was quite 
consistent with the vast system of subordination running 
through the universe: "But I would have you know, 
that the head of every man is Christ ; and the head of the 
woman is the man ; and the head of Christ is God ;" which 
two things we see he distinctly unites in verses eleven and 
twelve when he says, " Nevertheless, neither is the man 
without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in 
the Lord ; for as the woman is of the man, even so is the 



190 LECTUEES ON THE EPISTLES 

man also by the woman ; but all tilings of God." He asserts 
subordination in one sense, and denies it in another ; and 
therefore bids the foolish question of ' Which is the 
greater?' to cease for ever: for he distinguishes between 
inferiority and subordination, that each sex exists in a 
certain order, not one as greater than the other, but both 
great and right in being what God intended them to be. 

The second reason assigned for the Apostle's prohibi- 
tion is an appeal to natural instincts and perceptions, to 
natural propriety. " Doth not even nature itself teach 
you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him ? 
But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her : for 
her hair is given to her as a veil." And this he extends 
still further in Tim. ii. 12, so far as to forbid public 
expositions by women altogether ; for, inspired with strong 
feeling, such as accompanied the outpouring of the Spirit 
in the early ages, the Christian women broke out at the 
church-gatherings into prophesyings. 

Observe how the Apostle Paul falls back on Nature. 
In nothing is the difference greater between fanaticism and 
Christianity than in their treatment of natural instincts and 
affections. Fanaticism defies nature. Christianity refines 
it, and respects it. Christianity does not denaturalize, but 
only sanctifies and refines according to the laws of nature. 
Christianity does not destroy our natural instincts, but 
gives them a higher and a nobler direction : — for instance, 
natural resentment becomes elevated into holy indignation. 
Christianity does not dry up tears, forbidding their flow ; 
but rather infuses into them a heavenly hope. It does not 
make Scythian, Barbarian, and "Israelites indeed" all 
alike ; — but retains their peculiar differences. It does not 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 191 

make Peter, Paul, and John mere repetitions of one aspect 
of human character ; but draws out into distinctive promi- 
nence the courage of one, the self-denying zeal of another, 
and the tender love of a third. And just as the white 
light of heaven does not make all things white, but the 
intenser it is, so much more intense becomes the green, 
the blue, or the red ; and just as the rain of heaven 
falling on tree and plant develops the vigour of each 
— every tree and herb " yielding seed after his kind ;" and 
just as leaven does not change the mass into something 
new, but makes elastic, and firm, and springy, that which 
was dull and heavy before : so the Spirit of Christ de- 
velops each nation, sex, and individual, according to their 
own nature, and not the nature of another — making man 
more manly, and woman more womanly. And thus, in 
all those questions which belong to equality, the ultimate 
decision is not by theoretical abstractions, but by an appeal 
to nature and to fact. Bat let us not forget that here, too, 
there are exceptions. Beware of a dead, hard rule. Let 
each develop himself, according to his own nature. What- 
ever contradicts feelings which are universally received is 
questionable, to say the least. 

Observe, however, there are modifications about this 
doctrine of liberty. Theoretically all men are equal, and 
all have equal rights, but when we apply this to daily life, 
we are clouded in uncertainty. Therefore, the only remedy 
is that given by St. Paul in this chapter — that the abstract 
principle shall be modified by common sense, human 
nature, and holy Christian experience. 

There is also the modification of the right of private 
judgment. It is a well-known rule that that which has 



192 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

been held everywhere, and at all times, is to be received 
as true ; this modifies, though it does not destroy the right 
of private judgment. There have been many instances in 
which one man standing against the world has been right, 
and the world wrong, as Elijah, Athanasius, Luther, and 
others. Therefore these tw r o things must modify each other. 
But in questions of morality, propriety, decency, when we 
find ourselves — our own individual desires and private 
judgment — contradicted by the general experience, habit, 
and belief of all the purest and the best around us, then 
most assuredly Christian modesty and the doctrine of 
this chapter command us to believe that the many are 
right, and that we are wrong. 



TO THE COIUSTHIANS. 193 



LECTURE XXL 

December 28, 1851. 

1 Corinthians, xi. 18-34. — "For first of all, -when ye conie together in 
the church, I hear that there he divisions among you; and I partly 
believe it. — For there must he also heresies among you, that they 
■which are approved may he made manifest among you. — When ye 
come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's 
supper. — For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: 
and one is hungry, and another is drunken. — What? have ye not 
houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and 
shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise 
you in this? I praise you not. — For I have received of the Lord that 
which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night 
in which he was betrayed took bread: — And when he had given 
thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat : this is my body, which is 
broken for you : this do in remembrance of me. — After the same 
manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup 
is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in 
remembrance of me. — For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink 
this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. — Wherefore who- 
soever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, 
shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. — But let a man 
examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that 
cup. — For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh 
damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. — For this cause 
many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. — For if we 
would judge ourselves, Ave should not be judged. — But when we are 
judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be con- 
demned with the world. — Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come 
together to eat, tarry one for another. — And if any man hunger, let 
him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And 
the rest will I set in order when I come." 

The remainder of this chapter treats of an abuse in the 
administration of the Lord's Supper, as practised in the 

o 



194 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

Church of Corinth. It may be necessary here to go a 
little into historical investigation. 

Every Church has a right to introduce new forms and 
ordinances ; and the Church of Corinth, taking; advantage 
of this right, introduced what was called a love-feast, in 
which the Churches met together previous to the reception 
of the Lord's Supper, to partake of a common meal — rich 
and poor bringing their own provisions. This idea seemed 
in strict accordance with the original institution of the 
Lord's Supper, as that certainly was preceded by a common 
meal. There was a great beauty in this arrangement, be- 
cause it showed the conviction of the Church of Corinth 
that differences of birth and rank are not eternal but tem- 
porary, and are intended to join by reciprocal bonds the 
different classes together. Still, beautiful as the idea was, 
it was liable to great abuse. Thus there arises a perpetual 
lesson for the Church of Christ : it is never good to mix 
things religious with things worldly. In the highest con- 
ceivable form of the Church of Christ, the two will be 
identified, for the kingdoms of the world are to become the 
kingdoms of God and of His Christ. In order to make 
these two one, the Christian plan has been to set apart 
certain days as holy, that through these all other days 
may be sanctified : to set apart a certain class of men, 
through them to sanctify all other men : to set apart one 
particular meal, that all meals through that one may be 
dedicated to God. 

The World's way is rather this : to identify things 
religious and worldly by throwing the spirit of the week- 
day into the Sabbath ; to make Christian Ministers like 
other men, by throwing into them its own secular spirit ; 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 195 

and to eat and drink of the Lord's Supper in the spirit of 
a common meal. 

In order to rectify the abuses which had grown out of 
these love-feasts, the Apostle recalls to their remembrance 
the reasons for the original institution of the Lord's Supper, 
and from them deduces the guilt and responsibility of 
their desecration of that ordinance. He says that it was 
meant as a memorial of the Kedeemer's sacrifice. 

There may appear to us something superfluous in this ; 
we should be inclined probably to say, u We need no me- 
morial of that ; it is graven on our hearts as on the rock 
for ever." The Son of Man knew our nature far too well 
to trust to such a pledge, even if it could have been given. 
He knew that the remembrance of it would fade without 
perpetual repetition, and also an appeal to the senses; 
therefore by touch, by taste, by sight, an appeal is 
made to the senses, reminding us perpetually that Chris- 
tianity is not a thing of mere feeling, but a real historical 
actuality. It sets Jesus Christ forth evidently crucified 
among us. 

Let us draw something practical from this. Memory 
depends on two things — on repetition, and on the impres- 
sion being a sensible one, that is, one of which the senses 
take cognizance. 

Does any man wish to forget God? Does any man 
wish to live in sin without being disturbed by the painful 
thought of Judgment ? We can tell him how he may 
insure that — for a time at least. Let him attempt to be 
wiser than his Maker : let him say, " I can read my 
Bible at home, and worship God in the open beauties of 
Nature, as well as in a church :" let him give up private 

o2 



196 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

prayer, and never attend the Lord's table, giving up all 
that is symbolical in religion. Let him do this, and we 
"will insure him most terrible success; for so "judgment 
to come " will be to him only a hypothesis, and God's own 
existence merely a perhaps. 

The second reason for the institution of the Lord's 
Supper was to keep in mind Christ's second Advent : — 
"Till He come." When Christ left this world, it was with 
a promise that He would return again. Ever since that 
time have the souls of the faithful been preparing and 
watching for that coming. So, then, there are two feel- 
ings which belong to this Supper — abasement and triumph : 
abasement, because everything that tells of Christ's sacrifice 
reminds us of human guilt; and triumph, because the idea 
of His coming again, " without sin unto salvation," is full 
of highest rapture. These two feelings are intended to 
go hand in hand through life, for that sadness is not 
Christian but morbid, which has not in it a sense of 
triumph, neither is joy Christian which is without some 
sense of sorrow. We dearly love the way in which the 
Church of England celebrates the Supper of the Lord, 
with a solemn stillness so well befitting the feelings and 
the occasion. 

The next reason for the institution of the Lord's Supper 
is to teach the communion of saints. The symbolic ele- 
ments themselves are intended to teach the Church's unity. 
The feeling of unity in the Church is that which belongs 
to fellow-countrymen meeting in a foreign land, or to 
ancient warriors who have fought side by side in the 
same battle, and meet in recollection of dangers shared 
together. So is it with us : we are fellow soldiers and 



TO THE COBIXTHIAKS. 197 

fellow pilgrims. This relationship can alone be perpetual : 
the relation between father and child changes even in this 
short existence to friendship ; even the marriage relation- 
ship is only for this life, for in heaven they neither marry 
nor are given in marriage. While all other ties shall be 
dissolved, God stamps on this alone something of His own 
Eternity : united in Christ, you are united for ever. 



198 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 



LECTURE XXII. 

January 5, 1852. 

] Corinthians, xii. 1 — 31. -—"Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, 
I would not have you ignorant. — Ye know that ye were Gentiles, 
carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. — Wherefore 
I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God 
calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the 
Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. — Now there are diversities of gifts, but 
the same Spirit. — And there are differences of administrations, but 
the same Lord. — And there are diversities of operations, but it is the 
same God which worketh all in all. — But the manifestation of the 
Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. — For to one is given by 
the Spirit the word of wisdom ; to another the word of knowledge by 
the same Spirit; — To another faith by the same Spirit; to another 
the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; — To another the working of 
miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to 
another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of 
tongues: — But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, 
dividing to every man severally as he will. — For as the body is one, 
and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being 
many, are one body: so also is Christ. — For by one Spirit are we all 
baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we 
be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. — 
For the body is not one member, but many. — If the foot shall say, 
Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body ; is it therefore not of 
the body? — And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am 
not of the body ; is it therefore not of the body? — If the whole body were 
an eye, where were the hearing ? — If the whole were hearing, where 
were the smelling? — But now hath God set the members every one of 
them in the body, as it hath pleased Him. — And if they were all one 
member, where were the body? — But now are they many members, yet 
but one body. — And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of 
thee : nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. — Nay, much 
more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are 
necessary : — And those members of the body, which we think to be 



TO THE COKINTHIANS. 199 

less honourable, upon these -we bestow more abundant honour; and 
our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. — For our comely 
parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having 
given more abundant honour to that part which lacked : — That there 
should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have 
the same care one for another. — And whether one member suffer, all the 
members suffer with it ; or one member be honoured, all the members 
rejoice with it. — Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in 
particular. — And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, 
secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts 
of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. — Are all 
apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of mi- 
racles? — Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do 
all interpret ? — But covet earnestly the best gifts : and yet shew I 
unto you a more excellent way." 

In tlie course of this exposition, we have often had to re- 
mind ourselves that this Epistle was addressed to a Church 
in a state of faction. One cause of rivalry was respecting 
the merits of their respective teachers ; another cause of 
rivalry was the endowments of various kinds given to the 
members of the Church. Instead of occupying and spend- 
ing themselves in the blessed work of using these endow- 
ments to the edification of the Church, they spent their 
time in quarrelling about the precedence which should be 
given to these different gifts. This was the natural result 
of great spiritual activity: it is so in politics: whenever 
there is freedom and earnestness in debate, there will 
assuredly arise dissensions. Well did St. Paul know that 
there must be heresies and factions among them ; but he 
would not say that schism was a trifle ; it might be that 
earnestness could not exist without it, but yet he refused 
to say that schism was right. This chapter teaches two 
things : In it St. Paul sets himself to discuss spiritual gifts 
and inspiration. First, the Apostle lays down a broad gene- 
ral principle respecting spiritual inspiration ; secondly, he 



200 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

determines the place and value of different degrees of spi- 
ritual inspiration. 

First he lays down the general principle respect- 
ing inspiration in the third verse. "No man can say 
that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost ! " 
This made the broad separation between the Christian 
Church and the Gentile world. This, the great bond of 
Christians, St. Paul tells us, is far above all distinctions 
as to the degree of spiritual gifts or inspiration. It is 
of far more importance to ascertain that a man is a 
Christian than to find out what sort of Christian he is. 
This he tells us in the fourth, fifth, and sixth verses. In 
other words, our Christianity is a fact far above our special 
and particular endowments. Not that in which we differ 
from other Christians, but that in which we differ from 
the world lying in wickedness ; in that consists our dis- 
tinction in the sight of God. In the thirteenth verse 
he appeals to the sacraments : does baptism teach of a 
difference between Christians? — does it not rather teach 
that all the baptized are baptized into one body ? There 
are varieties, differences — yes, says the Apostle, but they 
are all of " the selfsame Spirit." 

And now, brethren, let us bring this home personally to 
ourselves ; for the teaching of the pulpit loses its force 
if mere abstract truths are stated without applying them 
to ourselves, for human nature is the same throughout 
all ages. What was it that waked up the energies of these 
Corinthians most? Was it that which stimulated the 
sublime spirit of the Apostle at Athens when he saw the 
city wholly given over to idolatry ? — or was it not rather 
the difference between sect and sect, party and party? My 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 201 

Christian brethren, what is it that wakes up, in all their 
force, the polemical energies of this day ? Is it opposition 
to sensuality, to pride, to vice, to evil generally ? — or is it 
opposition to some doctrine held by this or that section of 
the Christian world ? Against whom are all the energies 
of Christian teachers directed ? Is it against the oppressor, 
the tyrant, the seducer ? — or is it against some poor erring 
Christian, who, it may be, is wrong in doctrine, but is 
trying with all his heart to live the Life of Christ ? Let 
me brmg this more closely home to you, and earnestly 
entreat the members of this conoreo-ation to sever them- 
selves from that bitter spirit of controversy which is tear- 
ing asunder Christian society in this town. My Christian 
brethren, if Christ be your Master, what in this world is 
your foe? Not Tractarianism nor Dissent, neither Popery 
nor Evangelicalism : these may be more or less forms of 
error ; but they who hold them are your brethren, battling 
against the same evil as you are. Your foe in this world 
is vice, the devil nature, in you and in me ; it is in our- 
selves that our foe is ; conquer that, spend half the energy 
in trampling that down which is spent in religious contro- 
versy with Christians, and the Kingdom of God will soon 
be established in this world : and if you will not, then the 
Word of God gives this solemn warning, " If ye bite and 
devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed 
one of another." 

We pass on, secondly, to consider the place and value 
assigned by St. Paul to these differ ences of spiritual 
gifts. He states the fact of that difference from the eighth 
to the tenth verses, and the principle of diversities in the 
seventeenth and eighteenth verses. He begins by stating 
these as the very conditions of Christian unity. God has 



202 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

given to one man eloquence, to another business-like habits, 
to some exquisitely fine feelings, to others a more blunted 
feeling ; for even that is a gift, without which some duties 
could not be suitably performed. The anatomist tells us 
that precisely as we ascend in the scale of being, so do we 
find greater diversity in our complexity. Thus is it that 
we have the distinction between a society and an associa- 
tion; artificial association binds man to man on the principle 
of similarity, natural society binds men together in diver- 
sity. The idea of the Church presented in the Bible is that 
of a family, which certainly is not a union of similarity, for 
the father differs from the mother, the child from the 
parent, brother from sister, servant from child, and yet 
together they form a most blessed type of unity. St. 
Paul carries on this beautiful principle, and draws out of 
it special personal duties ; he says that gifts are granted 
to individuals for the sake of the whole Church. As he 
expresses it in another part : " No man liveth to himself, 
and no man dieth to himself." After this, he carries on the 
application further, and shows that the principle branches 
out into a twofold duty: first, the duty of those gifted with 
the inferior gifts ; and after that, the duty of those gifted 
with the higher powers. The duties of those possessed 
of inferior gifts he states to be two ; not to envy, and 
not to despond. First, not to envy: — Observe here the 
difference between the Christian doctrine of unity and 
equality, and the world's doctrine by levelling all to one 
standard. The intention of God with respect to the body 
is not that the rude hand should have the delicacy of 
the eye, or the foot have the power of the brain. The 
intention of God is to proclaim the real equality of each 
in mutual sympathy and love. The second duty of those 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 203 

with inferior gifts is not to despond. There are few 
temptations more common to ardent spirits than that 
which leads them to repine at the lot in which they are 
cast, believing that in some other situation they could 
serve God better; and therefore to every such man St. 
Paul speaks, telling him that it is his duty to try to be 
himself : simply to try to do his own duty ; for here in 
this world we are nothing apart from the strange and 
curious clockwork of the world ; and if each man had the 
spirit of Self-surrender, the Spirit of the Cross, it would 
not matter to him whether he were doing the work of the 
mainspring or of one of the inferior parts. Lastly, St. 
Paul applies this principle to the duty of those gifted with 
higher powers; this is also a twofold duty, that of humility 
and sympathy. They were not to despise those who were 
inferior. As with the natural body, the rudest parts are 
the most useful, and the delicate parts require most care, so 
is it with the body politic ; the meanest trades are those with 
which we can least dispense ; a nation may exist without 
an astronomer or philosopher, but the day-labourer is 
essential to the existence of man. The second duty of 
the more highly gifted is taught in the twenty-sixth verse. 
The spirit and the law of the Life of Christ is to be that 
of every member of the Church, and the law of the Life 
of Christ is that of sympathy. Until we have learnt 
something of tins spirit, we cannot have a Church at all. 
How little, during eighteen hundred years, have the hearts 
of men been got to beat together ! Nor can we say that 
this is the fault of the capitalists and the masters only, it 
is the fault of the servants and dependants also. 



20-1 LECTUEES ON THE EPISTLES 



LECTURE XXIII. 

November 16, 1851. 

1 Corinthians, xii. 31; xiii. 1-3. — " But covet earnestly the best gifts: 
and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way. — Though I speak with 
the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become 
as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. — And though I have the gift 
of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and 
though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have 
not charity, I am nothing. — And though I bestow all my goods to 
feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have 
not charity, it proflteth me nothing." 

The twelfth chapter of this epistle discusses the gifts of 
the Spirit, the thirteenth contrasts them with the grace of 
Charity or Love, but the connection between the two is 
unintelligible unless the last verse of the former be joined 
to the first of the latter : It is the link between both 
chapters : " Covet earnestly the best gifts : and yet shew 
I unto you a more excellent way." Now the more excel- 
lent way is Charity. 

We will consider, then, the Christian estimate of gifts. 

I. In themselves. 
II. In reference to graces. 

I. The way in which a Christian should esteem gifts. 

Let me first show that this rule applies to ourselves ; 
for it might be doubted, since the Corinthian gifts were 
in part what we call miraculous, while ours are natural. 
But you will find that in all essential particulars the re- 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 205 

semblance is complete. The gifts of the Church of Corinth 
were bestowed according to God's pleasure : they were 
" divided to every man severally as He willed." They 
were profitable to others : " The manifestation of the 
Spirit is given to every man to profit withal." They 
were not the highest perfection of human nature, for a 
man might have them and yet perish. So is it with ours : 
we have gifts freely granted, capable of profiting others, 
and yet capable of being separated from personal or saving 
holiness. Therefore, to all such gifts essentially coinciding 
with the nature of the Corinthian gifts, the Apostle's rule 
must apply ; and his rule is this — " covet earnestly the 
best gifts." 

First, then, consider what a gift is. It is that in which 
our main strength lies. One man is remarkable for in- 
tellectual, and another for moral qualifications. One is 
highly sensitive, and another firm and unimpressionable. 
One has exquisite taste, and another capacity for business. 
One nation is inventive, and another, like the English, 
persevering and able to improve inventions. It is well 
for us to dwell on this, because in our unchristian way of 
viewing things we are apt to forget that they are gifts, 
because they seem so simple. But all God's gifts are not 
sublime. You would all acknowledge prophecy to be a 
gift, but St. Paul says the humblest faculties are also gifts. 
The eye is precious, but the foot, in its way, is no less so. 

Next, observe that all these are gifts, but sometimes we 
fancy they are not, because sad and melancholy moralists 
remind us that these things are vain. Beauty is fleeting, 
such men cry; strength is soon but labour and sorrow. 
Sound sense does not save : " Life is thorny, and youth 



206 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

is vain. The patli of glory leads but to the grave." A noble 
name, an honoured position, an existence of fame, what are 
these but dreams? True, all these are transient; and be- 
cause so, we are forbidden to set our hearts upon them : 
" the world passeth away, and the lust thereof." But still, 
in spite of moralizing, men covet them. And the Apostle 
says it is right : God gave them : do you honour Him by 
despising them ? They are good, but not the higher good. 
Good so long as they are desired in subservience to the 
greater good, but evil if they are put in the place of this. 

Thirdly, remark that they are to be earnestly cultivated. 

There is a mistake into which religious people are apt 
to fall, but which the Apostle avoids : and this is one of 
the negative marks of his inspiration. The Apostles were 
never fanatical; but ordinary men, when strongly in- 
fluenced, exaggerate. Now the world makes very little of 
charity; and religious men, perceiving the transcendent 
excellence of this grace, make very little of talents : nay, 
some depreciate them as almost worthless. They talk con- 
temptuously of the "mere moral man." They speak of 
cleverness and gifts of intellect, as in themselves bad and 
dangerous. They weed the finest works of human genius 
from their libraries. And hence the religious character 
has a tendency to become feeble, to lose all breadth of 
view, and all manly grasp of realities. Now, on the contrary, 
St. Paul prays that the whole soul, tyvyi), the natural man 
as well as the spirit, may " be preserved blameless till the 
coming of Christ." 

And again he allows a distinction — " the best gifts." 

The same Apostle who so earnestly urged contentment 
with the gifts we have, and forbade contemptuous scorn of 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 207 

others with feeble gifts, bids us yet to aspire. And just as 
St. Peter said, " Add to your faith, virtue ; and to virtue, 
knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance;" so would St. 
Paul have said, " Add to your nobility of rank, nobleness 
of mind ; to your naturally-strong constitution, health by 
exercise; to your memory, judgment; to your power of 
imitating, invention." He permits no dream of fantastic 
equality, no pretence that all gifts are equal, or all alike 
precious. He never would have said that the builder who 
executed was equal to the architect who planned. 

Be contented, yet aspire : that should be the faith of all, 
and the two are quite compatible. And there arises from 
such a belief the possibility of generous admiration : all 
the miserable shutting-up of ourselves in superciliousness 
is done away. Desirous of reaching something higher, 
we recognize and love what is above ourselves ; and this 
is the condition of excellence, for we become that which we 
admire. 

II. The estimate of gifts in comparison with graces. 

They are less excellent than charity. They are not 
the perfection of our nature. He who treads the bril- 
liant road of the highest accomplishments is, as a man, 
inferior to him who treads the path of Love. For in the 
spiritual world a man is measured not by his genius, but 
by his likeness to God. Intellect is not divine ; Love is 
the most essential of all the attitudes of God. God does 
not reason, nor remember, but He loves. Thus, to the 
Apostle's mind, there was emptiness in eloquence, nothing- 
ness in knowledge and even in faith, uselessness in libe- 
rality and sacrifice, where Love was not. And none could 
be better qualified than he to speak. In all these gifts he 



20S LECTUBES ON TEE EPISTLES 

was pre-eminent : none taught like him the philosophy of 
Christianity. None had so strong a faith; nor so deep a 
spirit of self-sacrifice. In no other writings are we so re- 
lined and exalted by "the thoughts which breathe and 
words that burn." And yet. in solitary pre-eminence above 
all these gifts, he puts the grace of Love. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 209 



LECTURE XXIV. 

April 25, 1352. 

1 Corinthians, xiii. 4-13. — " Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity 
envieth not ; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, — Doth 
not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily pro- 
voked, thinketh no evil; — Eejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth 
in the truth; — Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all 
things, endureth all things. — Charity never faileth: but whether there 
be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall 
cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. — For we 
know in part, and we prophesy in part. — But when that which is 
perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. — 
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I 
thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish 
things. — For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to 
face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am 
known. — And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the 
greatest of these is charity." 

It is a notable circumstance that the most elaborate 
description given in Scripture of the grace of Charity is 
from the pen, not of St. John, who was pre-eminently 
the man of Love, but of the Apostle Paul, whose great 
characteristic was his soaring Faith. 

To each of the Apostles was given a peculiar work; 
each had one feature in his character predominant over the 
rest. If we had been asked what this was in St. Paul, we 
should have said Faith ; for he has assigned to faith that 
high position which makes it the efficacious instrument 
in justifying the soul. St. John, on the contrary, was the 
Apostle of love. To him we owe the pregnant expres- 

p 



210 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

sions, " God is love;" (S Little children, love one another;" 
" He that loveth dwelleth in God, and God in him." And 
yet it was not to him that the office was assigned of illus- 
trating and expounding his own especial grace, but to one 
of a very different character — one in whom the man-like 
predominated over the woman-like ; a man daring, impe- 
tuous, intellectual; one in whom all the qualities of the 
man strongly flourished, and who yet emphatically declares 
all those — faith, great strength, intellect, gifts, manliness — 
to be inferior to Love. There are some very intelligible 
reasons for this arrangement in God's providential dealings. 
If the Apostle Paul had exalted the grace of Faith only, and 
St. John that of Love only, we might have conceived that 
each magnified especially his own gift, and that his judg- 
ment was guided by his peculiarities of temperament. But 
when the gifted Apostle, at the same time that he acknow- 
ledges the worth of talents, counts them as nothing in 
comparison of Love, no doubt remains. It is as if he 
"would shew that the graces of the Christian character 
may be mixed in different proportions, but must all be 
found in every one who lives the life of Christ. For no 
man can conquer the world, except by Faith: no man 
can resemble God, except by Love. It was by Faith that 
St. Paul removed mountains of impossibility ; it was by 
Love that he became like God. 

Our subject then is Charity: we will consider two points. 
I. Its description. 
II. The reason of its superiority to Gifts. 

I. The description of this grace is contained in the fourth 
to the seventh verses. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 211 

This description is needed, because no single word in 
any language will express the fulness of the Christian 
grace here spoken of. Charity is by conventional usage 
appropriated to one particular form of St. Paul's charity, 
almsgiving, and we cannot nse the term without thinking of 
this. Love is appropriated to another human feeling, given 
by God as one of the means whereby we are freed from self, 
but which, in its highest forms, is too personal and too ex- 
clusive to be the Christian grace ; in its lowest forms, too 
earthly. To the Greeks the world was saturated with this 
earthly idea of love, and it needed this elaborate descrip- 
tion to purge from their minds the thoughts connected 
with it. 

Benevolence or Philanthropy is somewhat nearer, but 
still insufficient to be what St. Paul meant. Benevolence 
is too often merely passive, too often merely instinctive : a 
sentiment and nothing more. Besides, many a man is 
actively benevolent, charitable among the poor, full of 
schemes and plans for the benefit of others, and yet 
utterly deficient in that religious "sense which accompanies 
the Christian grace of Love. Therefore, St. Paul gives 
this exquisite description of what he means by the word, 
distinguishing it from almsgiving, passion, sentiment, and 
philanthropy, while something of them all is contained 
within it. 

Upon this description I make two remarks. 

1. Observe that many of those qualities which the 
Apostle names as characteristic of charity are what we 
should assign to other graces ; for example, patience, 
•* she suffereth long, and is kind ; " generosity, Si she 
envieth not;" humility, "she vaunteth not herself;" 

P 2 



212 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

dignified demeanour, " doth not behave itself unseemly ; " 
peaceableness, (i she seeketh not her own ; " good temper, 
fe she is not easily provoked ; " innocence and unsuspi- 
ciousness, ee she thinketh no evil ; " love of realities, " she 
rejoiceth in the truth." For St. Paul saw down to the 
root : he saw that it was perfectly possible for any one of 
these to exist alone, but it was in the co-existence of them 
all that the real life of the under-root of Love was shown. 

For example, you may find a man rejoicing in the truth, 
and generous — nay, good-tempered too ; but there is in his 
deportment a certain restlessness, a want of ease, and a 
desire to eclipse others : the Apostle would describe him 
as behaving himself unseemly. Well, then, he is good- 
tempered, he is generous, but he lacks charity, which per- 
vades every grace, colouring them all, as our life gives 
hues to the hair, the lips, and the eyes. v For real love 
would have made him shrink from giving pain by showing 
superiority. In his desire to appear better than others, 
self is uppermost, whereas Love is the abnegation and for- 
getfulness of self. 

2. I make another remark; for you will observe only 
general remarks can be made : complete exposition is out 
of the question : every one of these sentences might furnish 
matter for a sermon. Besides, to illustrate or improve 
this description would be ({ to gild refined gold ; " gold 
thrice refined in the eloquence and heart of St. Paul. 

The second remark I make is, that the Apostle here de- 
scribes a Christian gentleman. There is a tiling which we 
call high-breeding or courtesy : its name proclaims that it 
is the manners of the Court, and it is supposed to belong 
exclusively to persons highly born. There is another thing 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 213 

which we call Christian courtesy : the difference between 
the two is, that high-breeding gracefully insists upon its 
own rights ; Christian courtesy gracefully remembers the 
rights of others. In the narrow, limited sense of the word, 
" gentleman " can only be applicable to persons born in a 
certain class, and " gentle " is only the old English word 
'•genteel," but in the larger, higher meaning, it belongs 
to those who are gentle in character rather than in blood ; 
and just as "gentle " has been corrupted into "genteel," so 
the words " gentleman," " courtesy," " politeness," have 
come to be considered the exclusive property of one class. 

The Spirit of Christ does really what high -breeding 
only does outwardly. A high-bred man never forgets 
himself, controls his temper, does nothing in excess, is 
urbane, dignified, and that even to persons whom he is 
inwardly cursing in his heart, or wishing far away. 
But a Christian is what the world seems to be. Love 
gives him a delicate tact which never offends, because it 
is full of sympathy. It discerns far off what would hurt 
fastidious feelings, feels with others, and is ever on the 
watch to anticipate their thoughts. And hence the only 
true deep refinement — that which lies not on the surface, 
but goes deep down into the character — comes from 
Christian love. 

And hence, too, we understand what is meant by eleva- 
ting and refining the poorer classes. My brethren, Chris- 
tianity desires to make them all gentlemen. Do not be 
alarmed ! for it is not in the world's sense of the word, nor 
in the socialistic, but only in the Christian meaning, that 
we would see them all refined. And assuredly, if Chris- 
tian charity were universal, if every man were his brother's 



214 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

teacher, a rude clown, or unmannerecl peasant, or coarse- 
minded workman, could not be met with. But these, you 
say, are only dreams, and that it is absurd to expect or 
aim at the refinement of the working classes. Tell me, 
then, is it equally absurd to expect that they may become 
Christian ? And if they are Christian, can they be so far 
unrefined? Only read this description of Christian cha- 
rity, and conceive it existing in a peasant's breast. Could 
he be uncourteous, rude, selfish, and inconsiderate of the 
feelings, opinions, and thoughts of those around him ? " If 
he did not behave himself unseemly, if he suffered long 
and was kind, or was not easily provoked, but bore all 
things quietly," would he not be a gentleman in heart ? 

II. We come to the reasons for the superiority of Chris- 
tian love to the gifts spoken of in the last chapter. 
1. Its permanence. a Charity never faileth." 
In contrast with this, Paul shows the temporary charac- 
ter of those marvellous gifts, which we find mentioned in 
the eighth verse : Charity endures, but prophecy, tongues, 
and knowledge " fail." But let us take them in the modern, 
and not in the miraculous sense : for what the Corinthians 
got by miracle we now obtain by the persevering use of 
our natural faculties. Prophecy means the power of in- 
terpreting Scripture. This doubtless is a precious gift, 
but only valuable as means to an end ; and when that is 
attained, the preciousness of the gift immediately ceases. 
u A time will come when they shall not teach every man 
his neighbour, saying, Know the Lord, but all shall know 
Him, from the least to the greatest." All those qualifica- 
tions which go to make up the character of the expounder 
of Scripture, such as eloquence, critical knowledge, biblical 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 215 

lore, what are they ? They are only designed for Time, 
and soon they shall be obsolete. Tongues also, of which 
the Apostle here speaks, shall " fail " — that is, pass away. 

They were then miraculous. What they were we shall 
explain in the approaching lecture : now," however, they 
are naturally acquired. It is remarked that this faculty 
gives more cause for vanity than any other. He who 
knows two languages, is able to express his thoughts to 
two persons : this is very valuable, but it is not neces- 
sarily a double means of thought. And yet we see that 
the expert linguist is generally found more proud of his 
gifts, and more vain, than the deep thinker and knower : 
so with the Corinthians, this gift produced more vanity 
than the more useful ones of prophecy and teaching. 

And yet suppose a man had known fifty languages in 
the days of St. Paul, how many — or rather how few, would 
be of use now ? The dialects of " Parthia, Media, of the 
Elamite, of Mesopotamia, Judaea, and Cappadocia," they 
are now all obsolete : " Whether there be tongues, they 
shall cease." And knowledge also "shall vanish away," 
for it is but a temporary state of the human mind. For 
instance, that of the Physician, which arises out of the 
existence of disease: were there no disease, his know- 
ledge would disappear. And it is the same with "gifts 
of healing : " when the time comes in which " they shall 
hunger no more, and thirst no more," when sickness and 
death shall cease, this power shall be needless. And so 
also with the knowledge of the lawyer, which depends on 
human crime : were there no wrongs done to persons or 
property, the necessity of legal knowledge would be at 
an end. All the knowledge hived in centuries by the 



216 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

barrister and the judge will vanish when Christianity reigns 
upon earth. 

Again, we see the same with science, which is ever 
shifting and becoming obsolete. The science of St. Paul's 
day, the deep philosophy of the Greek, is only curious 
now ; for a brighter light has shone, and the geography, 
the astronomy, and the physics of that age have vanished. 
And this is surely reason enough to make a man humble ; 
for if time so deals with the man of profoundest science, if 
in a few years his knowledge cannot suffice the schoolboy, 
what must be the humbleness due from us, who know so 
little? Therefore, the next time you are inclined to be 
vain of a few facts, or a little reading, or a smattering of 
science, pause and think, that all the knowledge of the 
great and wise men of the Apostle Paul's day, except the 
knowledge of Christ crucified, is worthless now. All 
they knew has vanished, all has failed but this, that they 
" washed their robes, and made them white in the blood 
of the Lamb." 

2. The second reason is the completeness of Christian 
love. Gifts, knowledge, tongues are only means towards 
an end. Love remains the completion and perfection of 
our human being, just as stem, flower, bud, and leaf in the 
tree are all subservient to the fruit. 

St. Paul uses two illustrations to make this plain. 

" When I was a child, I spake as a child, I under- 
stood as a child, I thought as a child : but when I became a 
man, I put away childish things." " Now we see through 
a glass darkly ; but then face to face : now I know in part; 
but then shall I know even as also I am known." 

In the first, the Apostle evidently considers our human 



TO THE COEINTHIASS. 217 

existence as progressive; and just what childhood is to 
manhood, the most advanced manhood is to our heavenly 
being. We put away childish things in manhood; we shall 
put away even manly or human things entirely in the spiri- 
tual state. In childhood, there is ignorance which fancies 
itself knowledge, there is a selfishness which does not own 
the wants of others, there is a slavery to present impulses: 
but when age has taught us how little we know, has 
taught us that if society is to exist at all we must give up 
some of our selfishness, and has taught us prudence, then 
manhood puts away the things of a child. 

And so similarly, there are many things now which sub- 
serve a high purpose, but do not belong to the highest state. 
For instance, ambition, the last infirmity of noble minds ; 
what a spur it is to exertion ! how deadening to sloth ! 
And if you were to quench it altogether, how few of the 
present noble works would be done ! Again, patriotism is 
a virtue, but not the highest ; you could not dispense with 
it : our Master felt it when on earth ; He was a Jew, and 
felt deeply for His country. But when we enter into that 
clime, where there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor 
free, then patriotism shall pass away. 

Consider also friendship, and other particular attach- 
ments. But these are no substitutes for the charity 
which contemplates likeness to Christ rather than per- 
sonal affinities. While on earth, Christ had personal 
attachments : a strong human affection for St. John, from 
their mutual similarities of character. But observe His 
Divine charity: "Who is my mother, and who are my 
brethren ? " He said. And then pointing to His disciples — 
Behold them : " For, whosoever shall do the will of my 



218 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

Father which is in Heaven, the same is my brother, and 
sister, and mother." These things are manly and hnman 
now, but will have to be put away then : patriotism, am- 
bition, exclusive friendship will then disappear, and be 
succeeded by higher impulses. And the last comparison 
is to imperfect vision as contrasted with perfect : " now 
we see through a glass darkly." Glass in this place more 
properly means window, for the ancient windows were made 
of horn, or talc, or thin metal, through which things were 
seen, but in a dim, confused, and colourless manner. So, 
now we see Divine things " darkly." We see God through 
the coloured glass, as it were, of our own limited human 
impressions. "The Father" has scarcely even all the 
poor conceptions we have gained from the earthly rela- 
tionship from which the name is borrowed. And God, as 
"Love," is seen by us only as one who loves as we love,— 
weakly, partially, selfishly. Heaven, also, is but a place 
erected by our earthly imagination. To the Indian, a 
hunting-ground; to the old Norseman, a battle banquet; 
to the Mahometan, a place of earthly rapture ; to the 
man of science, a place where Nature shall yield up all 
her secrets. " We see through a glass darkly : we know 
but in part." But just what the going out of a room 
lighted through horn windows into the clear daylight 
would be to us now, will be the entrance of the purified 
spirit into God's realities out of this world of shadows — 
of things half seen — of restless dreams. (i It doth not yet 
appear," says St. John, " what we shall be : but we know 
that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for 
we shall see Him as He is." " And every man that hath 
this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure." 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 219 

Here, therefore, we bring the subject to a conclusion. 
All gifts are to be cultivated; let no Christian despise 
them. Every accomplishment, every intellectual faculty 
that can adorn and grace human nature, should be culti- 
vated and polished to its highest capability. Yet these 
are not the things that brincr us nearer God. i( Blessed 
are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." " If we 
love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is per- 
fected in us." 

You may have strong, eagle-eyed Faith : well — you will 
probably be enabled to do great things in life, to work 
wonders, to trample on impossibilities. You may have 
sanguine Hope : well — your life will pass brightly, not 
gloomily. But the vision of God as He is, to see the 
King in His beauty, is vouchsafed not to science, nor to 
talent, but only to Purity and Love. 



220 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 



LECTURE XXV. 

May 2, 1852. 

1 Corinthians, xiv. 1. — " Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, 
but rather that ye may prophesy." 

The first verse of this chapter contains a resume of all 
that has been said in the thirteenth and fourteenth chap- 
ters, and serves as a point from whence the fourteenth 
chapter begins. And we observe that charity holds the 
first place, and then spiritual gifts follow in the second. 
And of spiritual gifts, some for certain reasons, as for 
instance, prophecy, are preferable to others. And this is 
exactly the subject of these three last chapters. He says, 
graces, like charity, are superior to gifts : " Follow after 
charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may 
prophesy." We will consider why is prophecy preferable ? 
It will be necessary, in order to explain this, to define 
what we mean, arid to show the difference between a grace 
and a gift. A grace does not differ from a gift in 
this, that the former is from God, and the latter from 
nature : as a creative power, there is no such thing as 
nature: all is God's. A grace is that which has in it 
some moral quality ; whereas a gift does not necessarily 
share in this. Charity implies a certain character ; but a 
gift, as for instance that of tongues, does not. A man 
may be fluent, learned, skilful, and be a good man like- 
wise ; another may have the same powers, and yet be" a 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 221 

bad man — proud, mean, or obstinate. Now this distinction 
explains at once why graces are preferable. 

Graces are what the man is ; but enumerate his gifts, 
and you will only know what he has. He is loving : he 
has eloquence, or medical skill, or legal knowledge, or the 
gift of acquiring languages, or that of healing. You only 
have to cut out his tongue, or to impair his memory, and 
the gift is gone. But on the contrary, you must destroy 
his very being, change him into another man, and obli- 
terate his identity, before he ceases to be a loving man. 
Therefore you may contemplate the gift separate from 
the man ; and whilst you admire it, you may despise him : 
as many a gifted man is contemptible through being a slave 
to low vices or to his own high gifts. But you cannot 
contemplate the grace separate from the man : he is 
loveable or admirable, according as he has charity, 
faith, or self-control. 

And, hence, the Apostle bids the Corinthians under- 
value gifts in comparison with graces. " Follow after 
charity." But as to gifts, they are not ourselves, but our 
accidents, like property, ancestors, birth, or position in the 
world. 

But hence also, on the other hand, arises the reason for 
our due admiration of gifts : " desire spiritual gifts." 

Many religious persons go into the contrary extreme : 
they call gifts dangerous, ignore them, sneer at them, and 
say they are " of the world." No, says the Apostle, " desire " 
them: look them in the face, as goods: not the highest 
goods, but still desirable, like wealth or health. Only 
remember, you are not worthy or good because of them. 
And remember other people are not bound to honour you 



222 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

for them. Admire a Napoleon's genius : do not despise it : 
but do not let your admiration of that induce you to give 
honour to the man. Let there be no mere " hero-worship — " 
that false modern spirit which recognizes the " force 
that is in a man" as the only thing worthy of homage. 
The subject of this fourteenth chapter is — not the prin- 
ciple on which graces are preferable to gifts, but the prin- 
ciple on which one gift is preferable to another. " Rather 
that ye may prophesy." Now the principle of this pre- 
ference is very briefly stated. Of gifts, St. Paul prefers 
those which are useful to those that are showy. The 
gift of prophecy was useful to others, whilst that of tongues 
w T as only a luxury for self. Now the principle of this pre- 
ference is stated generally in the twelfth verse : " Even 
so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek 
that ye may excel to the edifying of the Church." 

We come, therefore, to-day to the exposition of a 
chapter confessedly of extreme difficulty, a chapter on 
Prophecy and the gift of Tongues. It was from a strange 
and wild misinterpretation of this chapter, untenable on 
any sound grounds of interpretation, that^the great and 
gifted Irving fell into such fatal error. 

For some reasons it might be well to omit this chapter 
altogether ; in simple modesty for one, since I cannot but 
feel diffident of entering upon ground where so many 
have slipped and fallen. But this would be contrary to 
the principle I have laid down, of endeavouring with 
straightforwardness and simplicity to expound the whole 
counsel of God. 

I must ask you to bear with me while endeavouring to 
expound this extremely difficult question. There is no 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 223 

minister of the Church of England who can pretend to 
a power of infallible interpretation. I give you the result 
of patient study and much thought. Let those who are 
tempted to despise flippantly, first qualify themselves for 
an opinion by similar prayerful study. 

To-day we shall exclusively direct our attention to 
acquiring a clear view of what the prophecy was which 
the Apostle preferred to Tongues, as this will of course be 
necessary, before we can proceed to apply his principle of 
preference to our own day. 

I. What was prophecy ? 

In these days, when we use the word prophet, we mean 
it almost always to signify a predictor of future events. 
But in the Old Testament it has this meaning only some- 
times, whilst in the New Testament generally it has not 
this interpretation. A prophet was one commissioned to 
declare the will of God — a revealer of truth ; it might be 
of facts future, or the far higher truth of the meaning of 
facts present. 

Hence, in the third verse, " He that prophesieth, speaketh 
unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort." 
Here, then, is the essence of the prophet's office, but there 
is not one word spoken here of prediction. We can imagine 
that it might have been necessary, in order fully to expound 
a spiritual principle, or a principle of divine politics, to 
foretell the result of transgression against it ; as when the 
captivity, or the fate of Babylon and Nineveh was pre- 
dicted ; but this was not the essence of the prophet's 
duty : the essence of his duty was to reveal truth. 

Again, in the twenty-fourth verse, the exercise of this 
gift is spoken of as one specially instrumental in the con- 



224 LECTEEES ON THE EPISTLES 

version of unbelievers. " If all prophesy, and there come 
in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced 
of all, he is judged of all." Observe here, prediction has 
nothing to do with the matter; for before a prediction 
could be fulfilled, the unbeliever " falls down, acknowledges 
God," and reports that (i God is in you of a truth." More- 
over, the prophecy was something which touched his con- 
science, read his very soul, interpreted the secrets of his 
heart : " he is convinced of all." 

And this surely makes the question sufficiently plain for 
all practical purposes. Prophecy was a gift eminently use- 
ful : it was the power of expounding the Will and the Word 
of God. And for us to embrace the essence of the matter, 
it does not signify whether it is, as it was then, a gift 
miraculous, or, as it is now, a gift slowly improved. The 
deep insight into truth, the happy faculty of imparting 
truth; these two endowments together made up that which 
was essential to the prophet of the early Church. 

II. We pass on now to a subject much more difficult: 
what is meant by the gift of tongues. 

From the account given in the second chapter of Acts, 
in which " Parthians, Medes, the dwellers in Mesopo- 
tamia," and various others, said of those who had the gift 
of tongues that they spoke so that the multitude "heard, 
every man in his own tongue wherein he was born, the 
wonderful works of God;" it is generally taken for granted 
that it'was a miraculous gift of speaking foreign languages, 
and that the object of such a gift was the conversion of the 
heathen world. After a long and patient examination of 
the subject, I humbly doubt this altogether, and I do not 
think that it seems tenable for ten minutes of fair discus- 



TO THE COEINTHIAXS. 225 

sion. I believe that the gift was a far higher one than 
that of the linguist. 

And first, for this reason amongst others, that St. Paul 
prefers prophecy to the gift of " tongues " because of its 
being more useful, since prophecy edified others, and tongues 
did not. Xow could he have said this, had the gift been 
the power of speaking foreign languages ? Was there no 
tendency to edification — no profitableness in a gift which 
would have so marvellously facilitated preaching to the 
nations of the world ? We will proceed to collect the hints 
given of the effects of the gift, and of the gift itself, which 
are to be found in this chapter. We gather first that the 
'* tongues " were inarticulate or incoherent : in the second 
verse it is said, u Xo man understandeth him." And lest 
you should say this is just what would be true of foreign 
languages, observe that the tongues spoken of were rather 
of the nature of an impassioned utterance of devotional 
feeling, than of preaching intended to be understood. The 
man spoke with tongues — " not unto men, but unto God." 
And what is this but that rapt, ecstatic outpouring of 
unutterable feeling, for which language is insufficient and 
poor, in which a man is not trying to make himself logically 
clear to men, but pouring out his soul to God ? 

Again in the fourth verse : " He that speaketh in an 
unknown tongue, edifieth himself." Here we find another 
characteristic point given : this gift was something inter- 
nal, a kind of inspired and impassioned soliloquy, or it may 
be meditation uttered aloud. There was an unconscious 
need of expressing audibly the feelings arising within; 
but when so uttered, they merely ended, as the Apostle 
says, in " edifying " the person who uttered them. May 

Q 



226 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

I, without profaneness, compare these utterances, by way 
of illustration, to the broken murmur with which a poet 
full of deep thought might be supposed, in solitude, or 
in unconsciousness of the presence of others, to put his 
feelings into incoherent muttered words? What would 
this be but an exercise of feeling irrepressible, bursting 
into utterance for relief, and so edifying itself! 

Once again : in the seventh and eighth verses : a And 
even things without life, giving sound, whether pipe or 
harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how 
shall it be known what is piped or harped? For if the 
trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare 
himself to the battle ? " — where the Apostle proceeds to 
compare the gift of u tongues" with the unworded and 
inarticulate sounds of musical instruments. These have a 
meaning. St. Paul does not say they have none, but he 
says that not being definite, they are unintelligible except 
to a person in sympathy with the same mood of feeling 
as that of him who plays the pipe or trumpet. And 
although they have a meaning, it is one which is felt 
rather than measured by the intellect. To the mere 
understanding musical sounds signify nothing. The 
mathematician would ask, "What does that prove?" the 
historian would say, " Tell us what information or fact 
does it communicate." So also we see that one speaking 
with " tongues " would leave on most people a vague, in- 
definite impression, as of a wild, rude melody — the utter- 
ance of feelings felt to be infinite, and incapable of being 
put into words. 

Have you ever heard the low moanings of hopelessness ? 
or those airs which to us are harsh and unmelodious, but 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 227 

which to the Swiss mountaineer tell of home, bringing him 
back to the scenes of his childhood; speaking to him in a 
language clearer than the^tongue? or have you ever listened 
to the merry, unmeaning shouts of boyhood, getting rid of 
exuberance of life, uttering in sound a joy which boyhood 
only knows, and for which manhood has no words? Well, 
in all these you have dim illustrations of the way in which 
new feelings, deep feelings, irrepressible feelings, found 
for themselves utterance, in sounds which were called 
" Tongues." 

Again, they are spoken of in another way in the twenty- 
third verse : " If, therefore, the whole Church be come 
together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and 
others come in there that are unlearned and unbelievers, 
will they not say that ye are mad ? " Thus the sound of 
these utterances of strong feeling when unrepressed, and 
weakly allowed full vent, was like the ravings of insanity. 
So indeed men did imagine on the day of Pentecost: 
<l Others mocking, said, These men are full of new 
wine," Remember it was a great part of the Apostle's 
object in this chapter to remind the Corinthians that they 
were bound to control this power ; else it would degene- 
rate into mere imbecility, or Fanaticism. Feeling is a 
precious gift ; but when men parade it, exhibit it, and give 
way to it, it is weakness instead of strength. 

Lastly, let us consider the eleventh verse. " Therefore, 
if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto 
him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall 
be a barbarian unto me." Here the gift is compared to 
a barbarian tongue, to a man speaking what the hearer 
knew not. Therefore we see that it is not a barbarian 

Q2 



228 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

tongue itself which is here intended, but merely that the 
indefinable language uttered is likened to one. 

Here, however, we arrive at a most important peculiarity 
in this gift. From the thirteenth verse we learn that it 
could be interpreted. And without this interpretation the 
"tongues" were obviously useless. The gift might be a 
personal indulgence and luxury, but to the world it was 
valueless : as in the fourteenth verse, " My spirit prayeth, 
but my understanding remaineth unfruitful." Now, if it 
had been a foreign language, it would have been simply 
necessary that the interpreter should be a native of the 
country where the language was spoken. But here the 
power of interpretation is reckoned a spiritual gift from 
God as much as the power of tongues : a gift granted in 
answer to prayer. " Wherefore let him that speaketh in 
an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret." 

Now this we shall best understand by analogies. It is a 
great principle that all the deeper feelings can only be com- 
prehended by one who is in the same state of feeling as the 
person who utters, or attempts to utter them. Sympathy is 
the only condition for interpretation of feeling. Take the 
Apostle's own illustration: he compares the gift of tongues 
to music. Now music needs an interpreter, and the inter- 
pretation must be given, not in words, but in corre- 
sponding feelings. There must be " music in the soul " 
as the condition of understanding harmony : to him who 
has not this, the language of music is simply unintelligible. 
None but one of kindred spirit with the sweet singer of 
Israel could interpret the melodies of David : others, who 
felt not with him, said, as of the prophet of old, " Doth 
he not speak parables ? " 



TO THE COKINTHIAHS. 229 

Take another instance where the feelings need inter- 
pretation. A child is often the subject of feelings which he 
does not understand: observe how he is affected by the 
reading of a tale or a moving hymn : he will not say, How 
touching, how well imagined ! but he will hide his face, or 
lie hums, or laughs, or becomes peevish because he does 
not know what is the matter with him. He is ashamed 
of sensations which he does not understand. He has no 
words like a man to express his new feelings. One not 
understanding him would say it was caprice and ill-beha- 
viour. But the grown man can interpret them ; and, 
sympathizing with the child, he says, " The child cannot 
contain his feelings." 

Or take the instance of a physician finding words for 
physical feelings, because he understands them better than 
the patient who is unable to express them. In the same 
way the early Christians, being the subjects of new, deep, 
and spiritual feeling, declared their joy, their aspiration, 
their ecstatic devotion, in inarticulate utterances. They felt 
truths, which were just as true and deep to them as when 
articulately expressed. But the drawing out of those emo- 
tions into words, the explaining what they felt, and what 
their hurried, huddled words unconsciously meant, that 
was the office of the interpreter. For example, a stranger 
might have been at a loss to know what was really meant. 
" Are you happy or miserable, O Christian, by those wild 
utterances ? Is it madness, or new wine, or inspiration ? " 
And none but a person in the same mood of mind, or one 
who had passed through that mood and understood it by 
the unerring tact of sympathy, could say to the stranger, 
" This is the overflow of gratefulness : he is blessing in 



230 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

the Spirit : it is a hymn of joy that his heart is singing 
to itself; " or, (l It is a burst of prayer." And therefore St. 
Paul writes the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth verses, 
which contain the very points I have mentioned, " pray- 
ing," " singing," " blessing," and " giving of thanks." It 
seems to me that the early Christians were the subjects 
of feelings too deep to be put into words. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 231 



LECTURE XXYI. 



9, 1851. 



Corixthiaxs xiv. 2-40. — " For lie that speaketh in an unknown 
tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man under - 
standeth him ; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. — But he 
that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, 
'and comfort. — He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth him- 
self; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. — I would that ye all 
spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he 
that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he in- 
terpret, that the church may receive edifying. — Now, brethren, if I 
come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall 1 profit you, except 
I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by 
prophesying, or by doctrine ? — And even things without life giving 
sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the 
sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? — For if the 
trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the 
battle? — So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to 
be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall 
speak into the air. — There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in 
the world, and none of them is without signification. — Therefore if I 
know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh 
a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me. — 
Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that 
ye may excel to the edifying of the church. — Wherefore let him that 
speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret. — For if 
I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understand- 
ing is unfruitful. — What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and 
I will pray with the understanding also : I will sing with the spirit, 
and I will sing with the understanding also. — Else when thou shalt 
bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the 
unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth 
not what thou say est? — For thou verily givest thanks well, but the 
other is not edified. — I thank my God, I speak with tongues more 
than ye all: — Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with 
my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than 



232 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

ten thousand -words in an unknown tongue. — Brethren, be not children 
in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in under- 
standing be men. — In the law it is written, With men of other tongues 
and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will 
they not hear me, saith the Lord. — Wherefore tongues are for a sign, 
not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesy- 
ing serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe. 
If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and 
all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, 
or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? — But if all pro- 
phesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he 
is convinced of all, he is judged of all: — And thus are the secrets of 
his heart made manifest; and so falling down on Ms face he will wor- 
ship God, and report that God is in you of a truth. — How is it then, 
brethren? -when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath 
a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let 
all things be done unto edifying. — If any man speak in an unknown 
tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; 
and let one interpret. — But if there be no interpreter, let him keep 
silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God. — Let 
the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. — If anything 
be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace. — 
For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may 
be comforted. — And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the 
prophets. — Eor God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in 
all churches of the saints. — Let your women keep silence in the 
churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are 
commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. — And if they 
will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a 
shame for women to speak in the church. — What? came the word of 
God out from you? or came it unto you only? — If any man think 
himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the 
things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. — 
But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant. — Wherefore, 
brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues. — 
Let all things be done decently and in order.*' 

We were occupied last Sunday in endeavouring to ascer- 
tain merely what the gifts of prophecy and tongues were. 

Prophecy we found to be in its essence the faculty of 
comforting, exhorting. &c, by spiritual truths addressed 
to the understanding. The prophet had the gift of insight, 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 233 

and also the power of explaining the meaning of truth. 
Collecting the information scattered through the chapter 
respecting "Tongues," we found that while under their 
influence men spoke incoherently and unintelligibly, — 
ver. 2 ; in a soliloquy edifying self, — ver. 4 ; they are com- 
pared with the sound of inarticulate musical instruments, 
— ver. 7; to barbarian tongues, ver. 11; to ravings of 
insanity, — ver. 23 ; as capable of interpretation by persons 
spiritually gifted, in spite of their incoherency and inarti- 
culateness, — ver. 13. 

Putting all this together, we concluded that new intense 
feelings from the Holy Spirit were uttered incoherently, 
not in some foreign language, but in each man's own lan- 
guage, in broken sentences, which were unintelligible to 
all, except to those who, by sympathy and a corresponding 
spiritual state, were able to interpret, and say whether they 
expressed unutterable joy or blessing, or giving thanks, or 
devotion. 

In like manner we saw that the sound of the Alpine 
horn, the awkward attempts of a child, when affected by a 
moving anecdote, to conceal his feelings, boyish joy intoxi- 
cated with happiness, though they may appear to be mean- 
ingless, yet have deep significance for those who are in 
sympathy with them. Or again, thanks uttered by any one 
overpowered by feeling — how incoherent ! yet how much 
better than wordy, fluent sententiousness ! Abraham's laugh, 
for example — it was a strange tongue in which to express 
happiness : who could fairly interpret that, and say it was 
intense joy ? It was not irreverence or unbelief in David 
dancing before the Ark. What was it but the human 
utterance of Divine joy ? Consider, again, Elisha's silent 



234 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

sorrow. " Knowest thou," said the sons of the prophets, 
unable to interpret the apparent apathy of his silence, 
"that the Lord will take away the light of Israel?" 
Observe how a sympathetic spirit was needed : silence 
had been better in them. " Yea, I know it ; hold ye your 
peace." His silence had a language of its own ; it was a 
tongue of grief, which needed interpretation from the heart. 

We will now consider the nature of spiritual gifts, and 
also some directions for their use. 

The New Testament speaks much of spiritual gifts. 
Thus St. Paul says, in his Epistle to the Romans, " I 
long to see you, that I may impart unto you some 
spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established." Let us 
distinctly understand what a "spiritual gift" is. It means 
the faculty in each man in which the Holy Spirit reveals 
Himself. Every man has some such, in which his chief 
force lies : this is a gift. Well, this, either then exhibited 
for the first time in a visible, perceptible effect, or some old 
power sanctified and elevated, was called a spiritual gift. 
Eor it did not matter that it was a natural gift or power ; 
provided only that the spiritual life in the man raised it 
and ennobled it, it then became a spiritual gift. 

There are certain epochs in the world's history which 
may be called creative epochs, when intense feelings ele- 
vate all the powers preternaturally. Such, for example, 
was the close of the last century, when the revolutionary 
spirit of the age manifested itself in the creation of almost 
preternatural abundance of military talent. 

The first age of Christianity was emphatically such an 
epoch. The Holy Spirit was poured out largely, and under 
Its influence mind and body were transfigured — whatever 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 235 

It touched, It vivified : as when a person was healed, and 
" his ankle-bones received strength." Thus we learn 
that the Holy Ghost may mingle with man in three 
ways — with his body, and then you have what is called 
a miracle ; with his spirit, and then you have that exalted 
feeling which finds vent in what is called (i Tongues ; " or 
with his intellect, and then you have prophecy. In the 
case of tongues, men felt, and could not logically express 
feeling, as " groanings which cannot be uttered," or espe- 
cial illumination of the uneducated. 

In the case of prophecy, cultivated minds were them- 
selves able to develop in consecutive words, by the under- 
standing to the understanding, what the Spirit meant. 
But the essential in all this was the Divine element of 
Life. The gift was not independent of life : just as 
when a flood of rain falls on dry and thirsty ground, 
and the result is greenness and vigour in the plants 
— greenness and vigour not being gifts, but simply the 
outward manifestation of invisible life — so the new 
life penetrated the whole man, and gave force to every 
faculty. 

Consider what this gift of prophecy must have done in 
developing the Christian Church ! Men came into Christian 
assemblies for once, and were astonished by the flood of 
luminous and irresistible truth which passed from the 
prophetic lips : it became an instrument of conversion : 
but in the M Tongues " the clear understanding vanished 
into ecstacy : the utterer, unless he controlled them, was 
carried away by his feelings. 

For this was not an address, nor an exhortation, nor 
exactly a prayer: utterly indifferent to the presence of 



236 LECTUIIES OX THE EPISTLES 

others, the man was occupied only with God and his own 
soul. Consider St. Paul's ecstacy when he was caught 
up into the third heaven ; yet even this he deprecates as 
comparatively worthless. That state, if not under control, 
would have produced " tongues." Hence " tongues " is 
the plural, for there were different kinds of utterance In- 
different feelings, innumerable phases of feeling, innu- 
merable modes of utterance. 

In the twenty-ninth verse, St. Paul gives a direction 
concerning prophecy, from which we learn that private 
inspiration was always to be judged by the general inspi- 
ration — i. e., it was not to be taken for granted because 
spoken: — had this simple rule been attended to, how 
much fanaticism would have been prevented ! We must 
remember that inspiration is one thing, infallibility is 
another. God the Holy Ghost, as a Sanctifying Spirit, 
dwells in human beings with partial sin ; is it incon- 
ceivable that God, the Inspiring Spirit, should dwell 
with partial error ? Did He not do so, He could not 
dwell with man at all. Therefore, St. Paul says that 
the spirits of the prophets are to be subject to the pro- 
phets. Neglect of this has been a fruitful cause of fana- 
ticism. From the thirty -second verse, we learn the 
responsibility attaching to every possessor of gifts ; it is 
a duty to rule — that is, to control — his gift. For inspiration 
might be abused : this is the great lesson of the passage ; 
the afflatus was not irresistible : a man was not to be 
borne away by his gift, but to be master of it, and 
responsible for it. The prophets were not mere trumpets, 
forced to utter rightly what God said. 

The first direction respecting "tongues" was repression 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 237 

of feeling in public. It is plain that what the Apostle 
dreaded was self-deception and enthusiasm. This state of 
ecstacy was so pleasurable, and the admiration awarded 
to it so easy to be procured, that it became the object 
of anxious pursuit to numbers, who, instead of steady 
well- doing, spent life in exhibiting intense feeling or 
" showing off." Now this, in its essence, is not confined to 
Christian souls. "Enthusiasm" means "possessed by the 
god" — a heathen word used of the Pythonesses or frantic 
devotees ; for there is a bad as well as a fine frenzy. 
And the camp meetings in America, and the convul- 
sions of the Ranters, all bear testimony to the same truth : 
how uncontrolled religious feeling may overpower reason 
and sense — mere natural and animal feelino* mino-lino- itself 
with the movements of Divine life. 

There is creat danger in un^overned feelino-. There 
are persons more highly gifted with fine delicate sensi- 
bilities than others : they are not moved to action like 
others, by convictions of the intellect or by a strong sense of 
duty : they can do nothing, except through their affections. 
All this is very precious, no doubt, if well used: but just 
in proportion as feelings are strong do they require disci- 
pline. The temptation is great to indulge from mere 
pleasure of indulgence, and from the admiration given to 
feeling. It is easier to gain credit for goodness by a 
glistening eye, while listening to some story of self-sacri- 
fice than by patient usefulness. It is easier to get credit 
for spirituality by thrilling at some impassioned speech on 
the platform, or sermon from the pulpit, than by living a 
life of justice, mercy, and truth. And hence, religious 
life degenerates into mere indulgence of feeling, the ex- 



238 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES 

citement of religious meetings, or the utterance of strong 
feeling. In this sickly strife, life wastes away, and the man 
or woman becomes weak instead of strong ; for invariably 
utterance weakens feeling. 

What a lesson ! These divine high feelings, in the 
Church of Corinth — to what had they degenerated ! Loud, 
tumultuous, disorderly cries ; such, that a stranger coming 
in would pronounce of the speakers that they were mad ! 

The second direction respecting tongues is, " Forbid 
not to speak with tongues." See the inspired wisdom 
of the Apostle's teaching! A common man would have 
said, " All this is wild fanaticism : away with it ! " St. 
Paul said, " It is not all fanaticism : part is true, part is 
error." The true is God's Spirit, the false is the admixture 
of human emotion, vanity, and turbid excitement. A 
similar wise distinction we find in that expression, "Be 
not drunk with wine, but be ye filled with the Spirit." 
He implies there are two kinds of excitement — one pure, 
one impure ; one proceeding from a higher state of being, 
the other from one lower; which yet resemble each other — 
intoxication with wine or with spiritual joy ; and both are 
capable of abuse. They are alike in this, that in both the 
senses and the conscious will may be mastered. 

The lesson, therefore, from this second requirement, is 
to learn to sympathize with deep feeling : believe that it 
has a meaning, though you may not have experienced it. 
Sympathy is needful in order rightly to understand the 
higher feelings. There are cold, intellectual men, afraid 
of enthusiasm, who frown on and forbid every manifesta- 
tion of feeling : they will talk of the elocution of Isaiah, 
or the logic of St. Paul, and they think to fathom the 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 239 

meaning of Scripture by grammatical criticism ; whereas 
only the Spirit can interpret the Spirit. You must get 
into the same region of feeling in which prophets breathe, 
and then only can you understand them. 

The third Apostolic direction is to prefer gifts which 
are useful to others, rather than those which are brilliant 
and draw admiration to ourselves. And yet we pique and 
pride ourselves on gifts which make us unapproachable, 
and raise us above the crowd of men in solitary supe- 
riority. For example : it is a great thing to be an astro- 
nomer, reading the laws of the universe; yet an astronomer 
might be cold, heartless, atheistical, looking down with pro- 
found scorn on the vulgar herd. Still, I suppose few would 
not rather be the astronomer with whose name Europe now 
rings, than an obscure country surgeon, attending to and 
soothing the sufferings of peasant's; there are few who 
would not rather be the gifted singer, at whose strains 
breathless multitudes melt into tears, than some nurse 
of an hospital soothing pain, or a Dorcas making garments 
for the poor. Tell me, which would he have preferred, 
who, gifted above all other men with inspired wisdom and 
sublime feelings, yet said, " I thank my God, I speak with 
tongues more than ye all ; yet in the Church I had rather 
speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice 
I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an 
unknown tongue ? " 

It is better to be useful than brilliant. You do not 
think so ? Well, then, your heart does not beat to the 
same music winch regulated the pulses of the Apostle 
Paul. 

Lastly, I infer the real union of the human race lies in 



240 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

oneness of heart. Consider what this gift was : it was not 
a gift of foreign languages; a Corinthian Greek might be 
speaking in the Spirit in the Church, and another Greek 
might not understand him ; but a Roman or a Mesopo- 
tamia might understand him, though he spoke the Greek 
language : and this not by a gift of language, but by a gift 
of sympathy. Had it been a gift of foreign tongues, it 
would have only perpetuated the Babel confusion ; but 
being a gift of the Spirit, it neutralized that confusion. 
The world is craving for unity ; this is the distinct con- 
scious longing of our age. It may be that centuries shall 
pass before this unity comes. Still, it is something to be 
on the right track ; it is something to know what Ave are 
to cultivate in order to make it come, and what we are 
to avoid. 

Now some expect this by uniformity of customs, eccle- 
siastical rites and dress : let us, they say, have the same 
services, the same hours, the same liturgies, and we shall 
be one. Others expect it through oneness of language. 
Philosophers speculate on the probability of one language, 
perhaps the English, predominating. They see the vast 
American and Australian continents — the New Worlds — 
speaking this, while other languages are only learnt as 
polite accomplishments. Hence they hope that a time is 
comino-when nations shall understand each other perfectly, 
and be one. 

Christianity casts aside all these plans and speculations 
as utterly insufficient. It does not look to political economy, 
to ecclesiastical drill, nor to the absorption of all languages 
into one ; but it looks to the eternal Spirit of God, which 
proceeds from the eternal Son, the Man Christ Jesus. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 241 

One heart, and then many languages will be no barrier. 
One spirit, and man will understand man. 

As an application, at this time, we will consider one thing 
only. There are gifts which draw admiration to a man's 
self, others which solace and soothe him personally, and a 
third class which benefit others. The World and the Bible 
are at issue on the comparative worth of these. A gifted 
singer soon makes a fortune, and men give their guinea 
and their ten guineas ungrudgingly for a morning's enjoy- 
ment. An humble teacher in a school, or a missionary, 
can often but only just live. Gifts that are showy, and 
gifts that please — before these the world yields her homage, 
while the lowly teachers of the poor and the ignorant are 
forgotten and unnoticed. Only remember that, in the 
sight of the Everlasting Eye, the one is creating sounds 
which perish with the hour that gave them birth, the 
other is doing a Work that is For Ever — building and 
forming for the Eternal World an immortal human 
spirit. 



242 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 



LECTURE XXVII. 

December 7, 1851. 

1 Corinthians xv. 1-12. — "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the 
gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and 
-wherein ye stand; — By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory 
what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. — For I 
delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that 
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; — And that he 
was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the 
scriptures: — And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: — 
After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of 
whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen 
asleep. — After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. — 
And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. 
— For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an 
apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. — But by the grace 
of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me 
was not in vain ; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet 
not I, but the grace of God which was with me. — Therefore whether 
it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed. — Now if Christ 
be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you 
that there is no resurrection of the dead?" 

In the regular course of our Sunday afternoon Expositions 
we are now arrived at the loth chapter of St. Paul's First 
Epistle to the Corinthians. We are all aware that this is 
the chapter selected by our Church to be read at the 
Euneral Service, and to almost all of us every syllable 
stands associated in our memory with some sad and 
mournful moment in our lives; when every word, as it 
fell from the lips of the minister, seemed like the knell 
of death to our hearts. This is one reason whv the 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 243 

exposition of this chapter is attended with some difficulty. 
For we have been so little accustomed to look upon it 
as consisting of Argument and Doctrine, and it has 
been, by long and solemn associations, so hallowed in our 
memories, that it sounds more like stately music heard 
in the stillness of night, than like an argument ; and to 
separate it into parts, to break it up into fragments, 
appears to us to be almost a profanation, even though it 
be for the purpose of exposition. 

The whole of this chapter is occupied with the proof of 
the doctrine of the Resurrection. On the present occasion, 
however, we confine ourselves to the first twelve verses. 
This subject, like almost all the others treated of in 
this Epistle, had been forced upon the Apostle in conse- 
quence of certain errors and heresies which had crept into 
the Corinthian Church. That church presented a singular 
spectacle — that of a Christian body, large numbers of 
which denied the doctrine of the Resurrection, who, not- 
withstanding, were still reckoned by St. Paul as not 
having forfeited their Christianity. The first thing we 
learn from this is, the great difference made by the 
Apostle between moral wrong-doing and intellectual error. 
For we have found in an earlier chapter, when in this same 
church the crime of incest had been committed by one 
of its members, the Apostle at once commanded that they 
should separate the guilty person from their communion ; 
but here, although some had fallen into error upon a doc- 
trine which was one of the cardinal doctrines of the 
Church, the Apostle does not excommunicate them, nor 
does he hold that they have forfeited their Christian 
profession. They are wrong, greatly wrong, but still 

K 2 



244 LECTURES ON THE EHSTLES 

lie expostulates with them, and endeavours to set them 
right. 

Let us examine this a little further. In the present day 
disbelief of the doctrine of the Resurrection is almost 
equivalent to the deepest infidelity. A man who doubts, 
or openly denies, the doctrine of a life to come, is a man 
we can in no case call a Christian. But there is a vast 
difference between this doubt as expressed in the time of 
the Apostle, and as in the present day. In the present day 
this denial arises out of materialism. That is, there are 
men who believe that Life and Soul and Spirit are merely 
the results and phenomena of the juxtaposition of certain 
particles of matter. Place these particles in a certain position, 
they say, and the result will be Motion, or Electricity — call 
it what you will; place them in another position, and there 
will result those phenomena which we call Life, or those 
which we call Spirit; and then separate those particles, 
and all the phenomena will cease, and this is the condition 
which we term Death. Now the unbelief of those distant 
ages was something very different from this. It was not 
materialism, but an ultra-spiritualism which led the 
Corinthians into error. They denied the resurrection of 
the body, because they believed that the materials of which 
that body was composed were the cause of all evil ; and 
they hailed the Gospel as the brightest boon ever given to 
man, chiefly because it gave them the hope of being libe- 
rated from the flesh with its corrupt desires. They looked 
upon the resurrection taught, by the Apostle as if it were 
merely a figurative expression. They said, "Just as out 
of the depth of winter spring rises into glory, so, figura- 
tively speaking, you may say there is a resurrection of the 



TO THE COEINTIIIANS. 245 

soul when it rises above the flesh and the carnal desires 
of nature. That is the resurrection; beyond it there is 
none." On examining the Epistles of St. Paul, we find 
many traces of the prevalence of such doctrine. So, for 
instance, in one place we find the Apostle speaking in con- 
demnation of some "who concerning the truth have erred, 
saying that the resurrection was past already." That 
is, as we have already said, they thought that the only 
resurrection was the regeneration of society. And again, 
in the beginning of his Second Epistle to this same Church 
we read : " We that are in this tabernacle do groan, 
being burdened : not for that we would be unclothed, 
but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up 
of life." That is, in opposition to this erroneous doctrine, 
the Apostle taught that that which the Christian desires 
is not merely to be separated from the body, or, in their 
language, to be " unclothed," but something higher far, 
to be " clothed upon ; " not the destruction or transition 
merely of our desires and appetites, but the enlarging 
and ennobling these into a higher and better life. In 
this chapter, the Apostle sets himself to controvert this 
erroneous notion. And he does it by a twofold line of 
argument; first, by historical proofs of the resurrection 
of Jesus Christ, and after that he proves the truth of the 
resurrection by the demonstration of the absurdity of all 
opposite views. 

I. In the first place, by historical proofs of the resur- 
rection of Jesus Christ. These are contained manifestly in 
the earlier verses, from the fourth to the end of the eighth 
verse, where he shows that Christ was seen, after His 
resurrection, by Cephas, then by the twelve ; after that, 



y 



246 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES. 

by above five hundred brethren at once ; and, last of all, 
bj himself also, " as of one born out of due time." The 
first thing here which the Apostle has to do, is to set at 
rest at once and for ever the question of what was the 
apostolic doctrine. For these men did not set themselves 
up against the Apostle's teaching, but they misunderstood 
what that teaching actually was. For example, there are 
instances where St. Paul himself applies the term resur- 
rection to the spiritual life, and these passages were taken 
up by these Corinthians, as if they referred to the only 
Resurrection. In the eleventh verse, therefore, he tells 
them, "Whether it were I or they" — i.e. the other 
Apostles — "so we preached, and so ye believed:" and then 
he tells them that the Christian doctrine was not merely 
that there should be an Immortality, but rather this, that 
there should be a resurrection ; not that there should be 
a mere formless existence, but that there should be an 
existence in a Form. And he tells them further, that the 
resurrection was not merely a resurrection, but the resur- 
rection ; the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus 
Christ being the substantial pledge of our immortality 
and our resurrection. By all his earnestness in saying 
this, the Apostle Paul testifies to the immense value and 
importance of historical Christianity. 

Now, brethren, let us understand this matter. There 
are two forms in which it is conceivable that Christianity 
may exist : the one is essential Christianity ; the other, 
historical Christianity. By the first we mean the essen- 
tials of the Christian doctrine. If we may suppose, for 
the sake of argument, that without the aid of Christ, 
without the intervention of His mediatorial intercession, 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 247 

a man could arrive at all the chief Christian doctrines; 
for instance, that God is the Father of all the human 
race, and not of a mere section of it; that all men are 
His children ; that it is a Divine Spirit which is the 
source of all goodness in man ; that the righteousness 
acceptable in His sight is not ceremonial, but moral, good- 
ness; that the only principle which reconciles the soul to 
God, making it at one with God, is Self-sacrifice — he 
would have arrived at the essence of Christianity. And 
this is not a mere supposition, a simple hypothesis. For 
history tells us that before the Redeemer's advent there 
were a few who, by the aid of the Spirit of God, had 
reached to a knowledge w r hich is marvellous and astonish- 
ing to us. And, indeed, the ancient fathers loved to 
teach of such men, that tiiey, even although heathen, by 
the Eternal Word within them had been led to the recep- 
tion of those truths which Christ came to teach : so that 
as amongst the Gentiles, "they, without the law, did by 
nature the things contained in the law," so likewise those 
men, without the knowledge of the actual historical Jesus 
Christ, had gained the knowledge of truths which came 
from His Spirit. 

By historical Christianity, however, we mean not those 
truths abstractedly considered, but as actually existing 
in the life of Jesus Christ ; not merely the truth that 
God is our Father, but the belief that though " no man 
hath seen God at any time," yet " the only-begotten Son 
in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him;" 
not merely the truth of the sonship of our Humanity, but 
that there is One above all others who, in the highest 
and truest sense, is the onlv-begotten Son of God; 



248 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

not merely that goodness and spiritual excellence is the 
righteousness which is acceptable in God's sight, but that 
these are not mere dreams and aspirations of our Huma- 
nity, but that they are actual realities, and have truly 
existed here below in the life of One — " the man Christ 
Jesus : " not merely the abstract law of self-sacrifice, but 
the real Self-sacrifice — the one atoning Sacrifice which has 
redeemed the whole world. Now, to this historical Chris- 
tianity the Apostle bears the strongest testimony when he 
comes to these facts, that Jesus Christ had been seen by 
Cephas, and the other Apostles, and by the five hundred 
brethren, and by himself. 

Brethren, let us understand this fully. The principle 
we la} r down is this : Reverence in persons precedes the 
belief in truths. We will grant that there have been a 
few remarkable exceptions in the human race, who, by 
God's Spirit within them, have reached truth without 
knowing Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life ; 
but this is not the rule. One in ten thousand may have 
so attained it, but for the remaining nine thousand nine 
hundred and ninety-nine the rule is rather, that it is not 
by our desires or aspirations, or our intellect, that we 
reach the truth, but it is by believing first in persons 
who have held the truth. And so, those truths which you 
hold deepest you have reached, not by the illumination of 
your own intellect, but you have reached them first by 
trusting in some great or good one, and then, through 
him, by obtaining credible evidence of those truths. 

Take, for instance, the doctrine of the resurrection: 
sometimes it appears distinct and credible, at others it 
appears almost incredible. And if we look into ourselves 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 249 

we shall find that the times when it appeared almost 
incredible were those in which we began to despair of 
human nature — when some great crime or meanness had 
taken place which made us almost disgusted with our 
humanity, and set us wondering whj such things should 
be permitted to live hereafter. And the moments when 
we believed most strongly and mightily in our resurrection 
and immortality, were the moments when we felt assured 
that human perfectibility was no dream, since we saw the 
evidence of a goodness most like God's, which could not 
be limited by death. Carry on this principle, and then 
you have the very spirit of historical Christianity. For, 
brethren, we do not believe that there shall be a Life to 
come, merely because there is something within us which 
craves for it, but because we have believed in the life, and 
death, and resurrection of the Man of Nazareth ; because 
that glorious life has kindled our lives, and because Huma- 
nity through Him has become a noble thing ; and all the 
littleness which we meet with in ourselves and in our fellow- 
men is but as nothing when balanced against that great, 
that perfect Humanity. Hence it is that the language often 
used in our own day about an absolute Christianity, sepa- 
rate from the personality of Jesus Christ, is after all but 
a dream. Our Christianity is not merely the abstract 
truths which Christ taught, but Christ Himself, who lived, 
and died, and rose again for us, our Redeemer and our 
God. 

II. We pass on now to consider the second line of argu- 
ment by which the Apostle substantiated the truth of the 
Life to come, and of a Resurrection in Form, which is one of 
a totallv different description. The argument is well known 



250 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES 

among logicians by the name of the reductio ad ahsurdum, 
when a man can show, not so much that his own opinions 
are true, as that all others which contradict them are false, 
and end in a monstrous absurdity. This is precisely the 
line taken by the Apostle Paul in these first twenty verses. 
And the first monstrous absurdity to which he drives the 
opponents of the doctrine of the Resurrection is this — <( If 
there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not 
risen." Now, let us endeavour to understand the absurdity 
implied here. You will observe the Apostle waives, at 
once, all those arguments which might arise out of the 
eternal nature of Jesus Christ, and contemplates Him for 
a moment simply as a mortal man ; and he says it is an 
absurdity to believe that that Man perished. Here, when 
on this earth, the Son of Man grounded His pretensions on 
this, that He should rise again from the dead. If, then, 
He did rise from the dead, His testimony was true ; if He 
did not, He was an impostor. On this point He joined 
issue both with the Pharisees and the Sadducees while 
He was yet in the world. The Sadducees denied the 
possibility of a resurrection ; the Pharisees denied the 
possibility of His resurrection ; and the High Priest laid a 
seal on His grave, that His disciples might not hold out to 
the world that He had risen from the dead. Now, if 
Christ be not risen, argued the Apostle, you are driven to 
this monstrous supposition, that the Pharisees and Sad- 
ducees were right, and that the Son of Man was wrong ; 
you are driven to this supposition, that a pure and just 
and holy life is not a whit more certain of attaining to 
God's truth than a false, and selfish, and hypocritical one. 
Nay, more : you are driven to this supposition, that when 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 251 

the Son of Man hung upon the cross, and there came 
across His mind one moment of agonizing doubt, followed 
by a bright moment of joyful and confiding trust — you are 
driven to the supposition that the doubt was right and that 
the trust was wrong — that when He said, " Father, into 
thy hands I commend my spirit," God's reply to that 
prayer was " Annihilation ! " — that He who had made His 
life one perpetual act of consecration to His Father's ser- 
vice received for His reward the same fate as attended the 
blaspheming malefactor. Brethren, there may be some 
who can entertain such belief, but the credulity which 
receives the most monstrous superstition is infinitely less 
than theirs. The mind, which can on such supposition 
disbelieve the Kesurrection, is such a marvellous mixture 
of credulity and incredulity as must be almost unparalleled 
in the history of the human species. 

2. Once more : the Apostle drives his opponents to this 
absurdity — If there be no Resurrection of the dead, the 
Christian faith is vain ; ye are yet in your sins. " If 
Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your 
faith is also vain." Now, what he here implies is that the 
Christian faith, in such a case, must have failed in redeem- 
ing man from sin. Because he assumes that, except in 
the belief of the Resurrection, the quitting of sin, and the 
rising in mastery over the flesh and its desires, is utterly 
impossible to man. " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow 
we die," is an inevitable conclusion. And you are driven 
also to this conclusion — that, just as all other religions have 
failed in redeeming man from sin, the Christian religion 
has also failed. It has become the fashion in these days 
to hold that, just in proportion as a belief in the resurrec- 



252 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

tion enters into our motives for right-doing, that right- 
doing loses its value ; and in a very remarkable but very 
sophistical work, published not many months ago, it is 
argued that he alone can be enabled to do any really good 
spiritual work who disbelieves in a life hereafter, and, for 
this reason, that he alone does good for its own sake, and 
not from the hope of reward. It is not for a future life 
that such a one works, but for posterity: he loves the 
men around him, knowing all the while that he himself 
must perish. Brethren, let us examine the depths of this 
sophistry. In the first place, you will observe that, in 
removing the hope of the Life to come, you have taken 
away all value from the present life — all that makes life 
worth possessing, or mankind worth living for. Why should 
we live and labour for such a posterity, for beings scarcely 
higher than the (i half-reasoning elephant." And thus, in 
endeavouring to give worth to human goodness, you have 
taken away the dignity and value of human existence. 
Besides, you will observe the sophistry of the argument 
in this respect, that to do right christianly is not doing 
so for the sake of happiness in the world to come, but for 
Life. This it is which is the deep, irrepressible craving 
of the human soul. " More life and fuller 'tis we want." 
So that the Apostle forces us to the conclusion, that if 
there be no resurrection from the dead, there is nothing 
whatever that can save man from sin : and the Gospel, 
sanctioned as it is by the Cross of Christ itself, turns out 
to be one fatal, tremendous, awful failure. 

3. Again : an absurdity arises from such a supposi- 
tion as this, that the Apostles would be found false 
witnesses. " Yea, and we are found false witnesses of 



TO THE COEINTHIAKS. 253 

God ; because we have testified of God that He raised up 
Christ: whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead 
rise not." There is something very touching, Christian 
brethren, in the manner in which the Apostle writes this 
monstrous supposition. That he should be a false witness ! 
— a tiring to him incredible and monstrous. You will 
observe he does not leave room one moment for sup- 
posing the possibility of a mistake. There was no mis- 
take. It was either true, or it was a falsehood. The 
resurrection of Christ was a matter of fact ; James, 
Cephas, the twelve, the five hundred, either had or had 
not seen the Lord Jesus ; Thomas either had, or had not, 
put his finger into the print of the nails : either the 
resurrection was a fact, or else it followed with the cer- 
tainty of demonstration that the Apostles were intentional 
false witnesses before God. There may be some, however, 
to whom this would not seem so monstrous a supposition as 
it did to the Apostle Paul. Well, let us examine it a little 
more closely. There is a certain instinct within us gene- 
rally which enables us to detect when a man is speaking the 
truth. When you are listening to an advocate you can 
generally tell whether he really believes what he says. 
You may generally see whether he is earnest merely to 
gain his cause, or because he believes that his client's 
cause is right. Truth, so to speak, has a certain ring by 
which it may be known. Now, this chapter rings with 
truth ; every word is, as it were, alive with it ; and before 
you can believe that there is no resurrection of the dead, 
you must believe that this glorious chapter, with all its 
earnestness of argument, and all its richness of metaphor 
and force of illustration, was written by one who was 



254 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

speaking what was false, and who, moreover, knew at his 
heart that he was speaking what was false. 

Another witness to this fact was the Apostle Peter. 
Brethren, there are two things which rarely go together, 
courage and falsehood : a brave man is almost always an 
honest man, and St. Peter was by nature a brave man. But 
let us qualify this assertion. There are circumstances in 
which a brave and honest man may be betrayed by the 
sudden force of temptation into a dereliction from the 
truth, and such a thing had occurred in the life of St. 
Peter. In the moment of Christ's apprehension he said 
that which was not true, and afterwards, as we should 
have expected from his character, " he went out and wept 
bitterly." Now, it was after this bitter repentance, when 
his whole demeanour was changed, and his trembling 
hesitation had given way to certainty, that he went forth 
and stood, as upon a rock, before the kings and councils 
of the world, protesting that he knew that the Lord was 
risen. Brethren, there must be a cause given for this. 
Can we believe that the man who laid his hand on the 
axe's sharp edge ; or he who asked that he might be cruci- 
fied with his head downwards, as unworthy to die as his 
Redeemer died — can we believe that he went through all 
his life falsely? that his life was not only a falsehood, but 
a systematic and continued falsehood, kept up to the very 
last ; and that the brave-hearted, true man with his dying 
lips gave utterance to a lie ? 

4. Once more: the opponents of this doctrine of the 
resurrection are driven to the conclusion that those who 
have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. Brethren, let 
us examine that absurdity. And, in the first place, dis- 



TO THE COMNTHIANS. 255 

tinguisli that monstrous supposition from one which, some- 
what resembles it. The Apostle does not say that it is 
impossible that man should perish. It is a favourite 
argument with many to point to the lofty attainments 
and the irrepressible aspirations of the human soul as a 
proof of its immortality. I am free to confess that argu- 
ments such as these, founded upon the excellence of 
human nature, have no power with me. For human life, 
taken in itself and viewed in its common aspects, is a 
mean and paltry thing, and there are days and hours 
when it seems to us almost incredible that such things as 
we are should live again at all. There is nothing which 

CD O 

makes annihilation impossible. God, in the superabun- 
dance of His power, creates seeds merely to cast them 
again into annihilation. We do not see why He cannot 
create souls and cast them again into nothingness as 
easily as He does seeds. They have lived — they have 
had their twenty, or forty, or sixty years of existence — 
why should they ask for more ? This is not St. Paul's 
argument. He does not speak of the excellence of human 
nature: it is not from this that he draws his inference 
and proof of immortality. It is this, that if there be no 
resurrection of the dead, then they " who have fallen 
asleep in Christ " have perished : in other words, the 
best, the purest, the noblest of the human race. For 
even our adversaries will grant us this, that since the 
days of Christ there have been exhibited to the world a 
purity, a self-sacrifice, a humility, such as the world never 
saw before : earth in all its ages has nothing which can 
be compared with "the noble army of martyrs." Now, 
you are called upon to believe that all these have perished 



256 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

everlastingly: that they served God, loved Him, did 
His will, and that He sent them down, like the Son of 
God, into annihilation ! You are required to believe, 
moreover, that as they attained to this goodness, purity, 
and excellence by believing what was false, namely, the 
Resurrection, so it is only by believing what is true that 
they could arrive at the opposite, that is, the selfish and 
base character. So that we are driven to this strange 
paradox — that by believing that which is false we become 
pure and noble, and by believing that which is true, we 
become base and selfish ! Believe this who can ? 

These are the difficulties of infidelity, — we put them 
before the infidel triumphantly. And if you are unable 
to believe his argument, if you cannot come to his con- 
clusion, then there remains the other and the plain con- 
clusion of the Apostle : " Now is Christ risen from the 
dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept." 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 257 



LECTURE XXVIII. 

1 Corinthians, xv. 13-20. — "But if there be no resurrection of the dead, 
then is Christ not risen : — And if Christ be not risen, then is our 
preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. — Yea, and we are found 
false witnesses of God ; because we have testified of God that he 
raised up Christ : whom he" raised not up, if so be that the dead rise 
not. — For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised : — And if 
Christ be not raised, your faith is vain ; ye are yet in your sins. — 
Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. — If in 
this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most mise- 
rable. — But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first- 
fruits of them that slept." 

The Church of Corinth exhibited in the time of the 
Apostle Paul the remarkable spectacle of a Christianity 
existing together with a disbelief in immortality. The 
history of the anomaly -was this, that when Christianity 
first came into contact with the then existing philosophy 
and religion of the world, it partly superseded them, and 
partly engrafted itself upon them. The result of that 
engraftation was, that the fruit which arose from the admix- 
ture savoured partly of the new graft, and partly of the 
old stock. Among the philosophies of the world then 
existing there was an opinion which regarded all evil as 
belonging to the body, not that which the Apostle speaks 
of as " the body of sin and death/' but the real material 
body. It was held that the cause of sin in the world 
was the admixture of pure spirit with an inherently 



258 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

corrupt materialism. The result of this opinion was a 
twofold heresy, which branched into directions totally 
divergent. According to the first, men believing in the 
depravity of matter held that materialism was all evil, 
that the spirit was itself innocent, and that to the body 
alone was guilt to be referred. The result of this con- 
ception of Christianity was the belief that the spirit was 
permitted to act as it chose, for to the body was all the 
sin imputed. This was the origin of that Antinomianism 
which St. James so forcibly contradicts. The other 
heresy was in a totally different direction : men believing 
that the body was the cause of all evil, endeavoured to 
crush and entirely subdue it ; and this was the origin of 
that ascetic system, against which St. Paul sets himself 
in so many of his Epistles. 

These opinions then existing in the world, it was to 
be expected that when Christianity was preached to such 
men, the expressions of Christianity should be misunder- 
stood and misinterpreted. For every expression used by 
the Apostles had already been used by those philosophers ; 
so that when the Apostles spake of Regeneration, " Yes," 
said these men, " this is the religion we want ; we desire 
the regeneration of society." When they spake of the 
resurrection of Christ, and told men to rise above the 
lusts of the flesh : " Yes," they replied, " this is the 
resurrection we need; a spiritual not a literal one: the 
resurrection is past already, the only grave from which we 
are to be delivered is the grave of sin." And when, 
again, the Apostle told of the redemption of the body, 
" Yes," said they, "we will cleave to this, for it is the 
redemption of the body that we want." So that, in the 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 259 

Church of Corinth, the resurrection, plainly as it was 
preached by the Apostles, had become diluted into a 
question of the temporal regeneration of society. 

Now what was remarkable in this form of infidelity was, 
that it was to some extent spiritual, sublime, and unselfish. 
Sublime, for it commanded to dispense with all enjoyments 
of the senses ; spiritual and unselfish, because it demanded 
virtue quite separate from the hope of immortality. And 
what makes this interesting to us now is, that ours some- 
what resembles that old infidelity ; there are sounds heard 
which, widely as they may differ from those Corinthian 
views in some respects, agree in this, that there is much 
in them spiritual and sublime. We are told that men 
die, and that an end then comes upon them; that the 
hope of immortality is merely a remnant of our selfish- 
ness, and that the only immortality for man is to enter 
by faith into the kingdom of goodness. Now the way 
in which the Apostle Paul met these views was with that 
line of argument which consists in demonstrating the 
impossibility of such a supposition, by deducing from it 
all the absurdities in which it clothes itself. For one 
moment he grants it ; there is then no resurrection, no 
immortality ! Let us, therefore, see the consequences : they 
are so awful and incredible, that no sane mind can possibly 
receive them. In other words, the Apostle demonstrates 
that, great as may be the difficulty in believing in immor- 
tality, the difficulty in disbelieving it is tenfold greater. 

We will then endeavour, to-day, to elaborate and draw 
out the four incredibilities of which the Apostle speaks. 
The first absurdity of which he speaks, resulting from a 
denial of the resurrection of Jesus, is, "we are found 

s 2 



260 LECTUEES ON THE EPISTLES 

false witnesses before God." False witnesses, not mis- 
taken witnesses. He allows no loophole of escape : the 
resurrection is a fact, or else a falsehood. And now 
consider the results of that supposition, — Who are they 
that are the false witnesses of the resurrection? Among 
them we find prominently two ; with these two the Book 
of the Acts of the Apostles is chiefly occupied. The first 
is St. Peter, the other St. Paul. St. Peter goes forth into 
the world strong in his conviction that Jesus Christ is 
risen from the dead ; for in the early ages of Chris- 
tianity the doctrine most preached was not the Cross, 
but the Resurrection. From a mistaken view of the 
writings of the Apostle Paul, as when he said, i( I preach 
Christ crucified," it has been inferred that the chief doc- 
trine of his life was the Crucifixion ; but it was the 
crucified and risen Saviour that he preached, rather 
than the mere fact of the Crucifixion. In the early ages 
it was almost unnecessary to speak of the Cross, for the 
crucifixion of the Redeemer was a thing not done in a 
corner: no one thought of denying that. But instead of this, 
the Apostles went forth, preaching that from which the world 
recoiled, that Christ had risen. If the Apostle Peter went 
forth to proclaim the Gospel to the Jews, even before the 
Sanhedrim and before all the people, this was his doctrine, 
(i Jesus and the Resurrection." Thus taught the Apostle 
Peter. His character was well known to be this, brave, fear- 
less, impetuous — exactly that character to which falsehood 
is impossible. The brave man never is habitually a liar : 
in moments of fearfulness, as when Peter denied his Lord, 
he may be untrue, but he will not be so when he has 
courage in his soul. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 261 

Another remark respecting these men being false wit- 
nesses is, that St. Paul must have been a false declarer 
of the truth, and the incredibility of this we are content 
to rest on the single chapter now before us, namely, the 
fifteenth chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians. In 
common life we judge of a witness by his look and 
actions: so let us judge this chapter. You will observe 
that it is not the eloquence of a hired writer, neither is it 
the eloquence of a priest, concealing and mystifying the 
doctrine : the denial of the Resurrection had kindled the 
earnest, glorious nature of the Apostle into one burning, 
glowing fire; every word is full of life. We defy you 
to read the chapter and believe that Paul was doubtful 
of the truths he there asserted. This is one of the 
impossibilities : if there be no resurrection of the dead, 
then these two glorious Apostles were false witnesses! 

The second incredible thing is this : if there be no 
resurrection, Christ is not risen. Remark the severe, 
rigorous logic of St. Paul : he refuses to place the Human 
race in one category and Jesus Christ in another. If 
Jesus rose, then the Human race shall also rise; but if 
there be no resurrection for man, then the Apostle, hold- 
ing to his logic, says, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is not 
risen. 

Now let us endeavour to understand the results of this 
conclusion, and what was its bearing. Last Friday we 
tried to meditate on that death which all men, with 
varied meanings in their expressions, have agreed to call 
Divine. We endeavoured to meditate on the darkness 
of that Human Soul, struggling in weakness and per- 
plexity with the mystery of death. We tried to think 



262 LECTUEES ON THE EPISTLES 

on that Love, mightier than death, which even in the hour 
of insult could calmly excuse the circumstances of that 
insult, and forgive it. We tried to think of that sentence 
as the sentence of God, which promised forgiveness and a 
place in Paradise to the dying penitent. We meditated on 
that infinite tenderness of human affection which in the 
dying hour provided for a mother a son, and for a friend 
a brother ; seeming to assure us that these domestic affec- 
tions shall last beyond the grave. We tried to think, too, of 
His trust in commending His soul into His Father's hands. 
And, lastly, we considered that marvellous expression — in 
the original, one single word — which declared that the Duty 
and the Life of Christ were only closed together. Now 
if there be no resurrection of the dead, then that Life 
was cast aside by God as worthless. It was, and is not : 
and that pardon which He besought, and which seemed so 
worthy of God to grant, was not ratified above : and that 
earthly darkness was but the prelude to that eternal 
night into which the Soul of the Redeemer was entering ; 
that sublime trust was not accepted by the Father, but 
sternly and cruelly rejected; Judas forsook Him, and 
God, like Judas, forsook Him too ! The Pharisees con- 
quered, and God stood by and ratified their triumph! 
And then the disbeliever in immortality asks us to believe 
in, to trust, and to love that God who treated Jesus so. 
This is the impossibility, the incredibility, founded on the 
moral character of God, which we are compelled to receive 
if we deny the Resurrection ! 

The third absurdity is, that the Christian faith is then 
unable to free from sin. The ground upon which the 
Apostle stood was this, that no faith can save from sin 



TO THE COMNTHIANS. 263 

without the "belief in immortality. We are then driven 
to this conclusion, that since every other faith has failed 
hitherto, the Christian faith has failed also, since the 
immortality it professes is vain. Now one objection by 
which this argument has been met is this : " That good- 
ness," say the objectors, "which rests only on the belief 
of immortality, is but a form of selfishness after all." 
And I do believe that there are men who reject the doc- 
trine of the Resurrection chiefly on this ground, because 
they think that only by denying it can they deliver 
man from selfishness. And, because this view is plau- 
sible, and because it contains in it some germ of truth, 
let us look at it for a moment. If a man does good for 
the sake of reward, or if he avoids evil on account of 
the punishment due to it, so far his goodness is but a form 
of selfishness; and observe that the introduction of the 
element of eternity does not alter the quality of it. But 
when we come to look at the effect produced upon us in 
liberating us from sin by the belief in immortality, we 
shall see that it is not the thought of reward that enters 
into that conception ; when you have got to the lowest 
depth of your heart, you will find that it is not the mere 
desire of happiness, but a craving as natural to us as the 
desire for food — the craving for nobler, higher life. To 
be with God, to see God, and to understand Him — this is 
meant by the desire of everlasting life. This is the lan- 
guage of Christianity: "Ye are the children of light." 
Ye are stated in the Bible in words, and symbolically in 
baptism, to be the children of God ; ye are the heirs of 
Immortality; do not live as if ye were only the heirs of 
Time. Narrow this conception, limit that infinite existence 



264 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

to seventy years, and all is inevitably contracted, every 
hope stunted, high aims become simply impossible. 

And now, my Christian brethren, we ask what is the 
single motive that can be brought forward to liberate a 
man from selfishness, when you have taken away this 
belief in immortality ? Will you tell him to live for 
posterity? — what is posterity to him? or for the human 
race in acres hereafter ? — but what is the human race to 
him, especially when its eternity is taken from it, and you 
have declared it to be only mortal? The sentence of the 
Apostle is plain: " Your faith is vain, ye are yet in your 
sins." Infidelity must be selfish : if to-morrow we die, then 
to-day let us eat and drink ; it is but a matter of taste how 
we live. If man is to die the death of the swine, why may 
he not live the life of the swine ? If there be no immor- 
tality, why am I to be the declarer and defender of injured 
rights ? Why am I not to execute vengeance, knowing that 
if it be not executed now, it never can be? Tell us why, 
when every passion is craving for gratification, a man is to 
deny himself the satisfaction, if he is no exalted thing, no 
heir of immortality, but only a mere sensitive worm, en- 
dowed with the questionable good of a consciousness of 
his own misery ? These are the questions which infidelity 
has to answer. 

The last incredibility from which the Apostle argues 
is that, if there be no resurrection, then they that have 
fallen asleep in Christ have perished. When the Apostle 
speaks of those fallen asleep in Christ, he does not neces- 
sarily mean only those who have borne the Christian 
name, but those who have lived with the mind of Christ 
and died with His Spirit. Those who in the elder dis- 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 265 

pensation only dimly descried the coming of that purer 
day, scarcely knowing what it was, who still in that faith 
lived the high and noble life of the ancient Jew ; also 
those, neither Jew nor Christian, who lived in heathen 
days, but were yet not disobedient to the Eternal Voice 
speaking in their hearts ; and who by means of that lived 
above their generations, penetrating into the invisible, and 
so became heirs of the righteousness winch is by faith; 
all those, therefore, have perished ! Now see what these 
sceptics require us to believe : that all those who have 
shed a sunshine upon earth, and whose affections were 
so pure and good that they seemed to tell you of an 
Eternity, perished utterly, as the selfish and impure! 
You are required to believe that those who died in the 
field of battle, bravely giving up their lives for others, died 
even as the false and the coward dies. You are required 
to believe that, when there arose a great cry at midnight, 
and the Wreck went/ down, they who passed out of the 
world with the oath of blasphemy or the shriek of despair, 
shared the same fate with those who calmly resigned their 
departing spirits into their Father's hand, with nothing 
but an awful silence to greet them, like that which greeted 
the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel ! You are required 
to believe that the pure and wise of this world have all 
been wrong, and the selfish and sensual all right. If from 
this you shrink as from a thing derogatory to God, then 
there remains but that conclusion to which St. Paul con- 
ducts us: "Now is Christ risen from the dead." The 
spiritual resurrection is but the mere foretaste and pledge 
of the literal. Let us, brethren, seek to rise with Christ 
above this world and our own selves, for every act tells 



266 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

on that Eternity, every thought and every word reap an 
everlasting harvest. 

ei Therefore," says the Apostle, in the conclusion of this 
chapter, " be ye stedfast, immoveable, always abounding 
in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your 
labour is not in vain in the Lord." 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 267 



LECTURE XXIX. 

1 Corinthians, xv. 21-34. — " For since by man came death, by man 
came also the resurrection of the dead. — For as in Adam all die, even 
so in Christ shall all be made alive. — But every man in his own 
order : Christ the firstfruits ; afterward they that are Christ's at his 
coming. — Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the 
kingdom to God, even the Father ; when he shall have put down all 
rule and all authority and power. — For he must reign, till he hath, 
put all enemies under his feet. — The last enemy that shall be de- 
stroyed is death. — For he hath put all things under his feet. But 
when he saith, All things are put under him, it is manifest that he is 
excepted, which did put all things under him. — And when all things 
shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject 
unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. — 
Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead 
rise not at all ? why are they then baptized for the dead ? — And why 
stand we in jeopardy every hour ? — I protest by your rejoicing which 
I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. — If after the manner of 
men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, 
if the dead rise not ? let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die. — Be 
not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. — Awake 
to righteousness, and sin not ; for some have not the knowledge of 
God : I speak this to your shame." 

In following the train of argument contained in this 
chapter, it must be clearly kept in remembrance that 
the error combated by St. Paul was not the denial of 
immortality, but the denial of a resurrection. The ultra- 
spiritualizers in Corinth did not say, " Man perishes for 
ever in the grave," but, " The form in which the spirit 
lived shall never be restored. From the moment death 
touches earthly life, Man becomes for ever a bodiless 
spirit." No doubt in this chapter there are passages in 



268 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

which the Apostle speaks of Immortality, but they are 
only incidental to the general argument ; as for example, 
" Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." The chief 
thing, therefore, to lay stress on is, that in the early 
Church there was not so much a denial of an Immortality, 
as of a Resurrection. 

In the earlier part of this chapter St. Paul proved the 
Resurrection by the fact of the resurrection of Christ, 
which he treats neither as a doctrine, nor a hope, nor an 
aspiration of the soul, but as a historical reality which, duly 
recorded and witnessed, took place actually and visibly 
upon this earth. Eye-witnesses tell us, said the Apostle, 
that on numerous occasions openly, and after death, they 
saw, felt, heard, and talked with Christ. On that fact 
Christianity rests, and if there is anything in the universe 
that can be substantiated it is that fact. With this he 
triumphantly concludes that reductio ad ahsiwdum, which is 
contained in verses 13-20. "Now is Christ risen from the 
dead." 

To-day we consider — 

I. The results of Christ's resurrection to us. 
II. Corroborative proofs. 

I. The first result is thus expressed : " He is become the 
firstfruits of them that sleep." The expression is Jewish ; 
and to discover what it implies we must remember the 
ancient custom. The firstfruits of the harvest were 
dedicated to God, whereby He put in His claim for the 
whole, just as shutting up a road once a year puts in a 
claim of proprietorship to the right of way for ever. It 
was thus St. Paul understood the ceremony: "for if the 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 269 

firstfraits be holy, the lump is also holy." Tims when 
the Apostle says that " Christ is the firstfruits of them 
that slept," he implies that part of the harvest has been 
claimed for God, and, therefore, that the rest is Kis too. 
The resurrection of Christ is a pledge of the resurrection 
of all who share in His Humanity. 

Now two questions arise on this. 1. Why does tins 
result take place? 2. When will it take place? 

1. The ground on which it rests : — " For as in Adam 
all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." — ver. 22. 
Two doctrines are given to us in this text — original sin, 
and original righteousness; the doctrine of the natural 
corruption and fault of our nature, and the doctrine of the 
Divine life which belongs to our higher nature. 

And first : " In Adam all die." 

Do not understand this as if the Apostle merely said, 
" If you sin as Adam sinned, you will die as Adam died." 
This were mere Pelagianism, and is expressly condemned 
in the article of our Church on Original Sin. According 
to the Scriptures we inherit the first man's nature, and that 
nature has in it the mortal, not the immortal. And yet 
there are in all of us two natures, that of the animal and 
that of the spirit, an Adam and a Christ. 

Let us see what St. Paul meant by being " in Adam." 
He explains himself: " The first man was of the earth, 
earthy ; " and again, " The first man Adam was made 
a living soul." But here we must recollect that the term 
" a living soul " means a mere natural man. The soul, as 
used by St. Paul, is distinguished from the body and the 
spirit, as that part of our complex humanity which embraces 
all our natural powers. " A living soul" is, then, the term 



270 LECTUEES ON THE EPISTLES 

used by the Apostle to express the natural man endowed 
with intellectual powers, with passions, and with those 
appetites which belong to ns in common with the animals. 
In this our immortality does not reside; and it is from 
fixing our attention on the decay of these that doubt of 
our immortality begins. It is a dismal and appalling 
thing to witness the slow failure of living powers : as 
life goes on to watch the eye losing its lustre, and the 
cheek its roundness; to see the limbs it was once such 
a pure delight to gaze on, becoming feeble and worn ; 
to perceive the memory wander, and the features no 
longer bright with the light of expression ; to mark the 
mind relax its grasp ; and to ask the dreary question — Are 
these things immortal ? You cannot but disbelieve, if you 
rest yonr hope of immortality on their endurance. When 
you have identified these things with the man, no wonder 
if a cold and faithless feeling steals over the heart — no 
wonder if the gloomy thought be yours, The end is 
coming, the long night on which no dawn shall ever 
break ! 

Now the simple reply to all this is, that the extinction 
of these powers is no proof against immortality, because 
they are not the seat of the immortal. They belong to the 
animal — to the organs of our intercourse with the visible 
world. And though it may be proved that that eye shall 
never open again, those limbs never again thrill with life, 
yet such proof does not touch the truth that the man — 
the spirit — shall live for evermore. Therefore, it is not 
in what we inherit from Adam the man, but in what 
we hold from Christ the Spirit, that our immortality 
resides. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 271 

Nay, more : It is in the order of God's providence that 
the growth of the Christ within ns shall be in exact 
proportion to the decay of the Adam. " Though our 
outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day 
by day." And this evidence of our immortality, blessed 
be God! is perpetually and not uncommonly before us. It 
is no strange or unknown thing to see the spirit ripening 
in exact proportion to the decay of the body. Many a 
sufferer in protracted illness feels each day more deeply 
the powers of the world to come. Many an aged one 
there is, who loses one by one all his physical powers, and 
yet the spiritual in him is mightiest at the last. Who 
can read that ancient legend of the Apostle John carried 
into the Christian Church, able only to articulate, u Little 
children, love one another," without feeling that age and 
death touch not the Immortal Love ? 

2. The next question which we proposed was, When will 
tins result take place ? This is answered by St. Paul in 
the twenty-third and following verses : u every man in 
his own order : Christ the firstfruits ; afterward they that 
are Christ's at His coming ; then cometh the end." 

Confessedly this is a mysterious passage ; nevertheless, 
let us see how much is clear. First, that the resurrection 
cannot be till the Kingdom is complete. Paul does not 
say that the consciousness of the departed shall not begin 
till then, but that the Resurrection — that finished condition 
when Humanity shall be fulfilled — is not to commence 
till the second coming of Christ. 

Secondly, that certain hindrances at present prevent the 
perfect operation of God in our souls. Evil in a thousand 
forms siuTounds us. TTe are the victims of physical and 



272 LECTUHES ON THE EPISTLES 

moral evil, and till this is put down for ever, the complete- 
ness of the individual camiot be ; for we are bound up with 
the universe. Talk of the perfect happiness of any unit 
man while the race still mourns ! Why, the evils of the 
race fall on him every day. Talk of the perfect bliss 
of any spirit while the spiritual kingdom is incomplete! 
No, the golden close is yet to come, and the blessing of 
the individual parts can only be with the blessing of the 
whole. And so the Apostle speaks of the whole creation 
groaning and travailing in pain together until now, tt wait- 
ing for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." 

Thirdly, that the mediatorial Kingdom of Christ shall 
be superseded by an immediate one ; therefore, the present 
form in which God has revealed Himself is only tempo- 
rary. When the object of the present Kingdom of Christ 
has been attained in the conquest of evil, there will be 
no longer need of a mediator. Then God will be known 
immediately. We shall know Him, when the mediatorial 
has merged in the immediatorial, in a way more high, more 
intimate, more sublime, than even through Christ Then, 
when the last hindrance, the last enemy, is removed, which 
prevents the entire entrance of God into the soul, we shall 
see Him face to face, know Him even as we are known, 
awake up satisfied in His likeness, and be transformed into 
pure recipients of the Divine Glory. That will be the 
Resurrection. 

II. Corroborative proofs. 

These are two in number, and both are argumenta ad 
kominem. They are not proofs valid to all men, but 
cogent only to Christians, as these Corinthians were. 
They assume Christian grounds which would be admitted 



TO THE COEINTHIANS. 273 

by all who believed in Christ. They only go to prove, 
not that a resurrection must be, but that it is the doctrine 
of Christianity, although a party in the Corinthian Church 
denied it. 

The first of these proofs is given in the twenty-ninth 
verse. It is well known that it is a disputed passage ; and 
after many years' study of it I am compelled to come to 
this conclusion, that no interpretation that has been offered 
is entirely free from objection. All that I can do is to 
put before you the chief interpretations. By some it is 
supposed to refer to vicarious baptism, a custom which 
certainly prevailed in later ages of the Church, when a 
living Christian was baptized in the place of a catechumen 
who had died before this sacrament coidd be adminis- 
tered. According to this idea, the Christian work was not 
so much to convert the living as to baptize for the dead. 
There is an immense improbability that Paid could have 
sustained a superstition so abject, even by an allusion. 
He could not have even spoken of it without anger. It 
is more probable that the custom arose from an erroneous 
interpretation of this passage. There is another opinion 
worth mentioning, namely, that the passage is an elliptical, 
one. When baptized, Christians made a profession of a 
belief in a resurrection, and St. Paul asks them here,. 
" What, then, was the meaning of their profession ? Why 
were they baptized into the faith of a resurrection if there 
were none ? " 

We may learn from this the value of baptism to the 
Church. Another such instance occurs in the sixth chapter 
of the Epistle to the Romans : the heresy of Antino- 
mianism had crept in, " Let us sin," said some, " that 

T 



274 LECTUHES ON the epistles 

grace may abound." In refutation of this, St. Paul appeals 
to baptism. Here he refutes a heresy concerning the re- 
surrection by another appeal to baptism. Some will say, 
" If baptism be but a form or an instrument, having not 
in itself any mysterious power, of what purpose is bap- 
tism ? " Brethren, I reply, of much, every way ; and if it 
were only for this, it would be much, that so long as 
it remains in the Christian Church there remains a ground 
of appeal against heresy. 

The second argument is in the thirtieth verse : " Why 
stand we in jeopardy every hour?" If the future life 
were no Christian doctrine, then the whole apostolic life, 
nay, the whole Christian life, were a monstrous and 
senseless folly. For St. Paul's life was one great living 
death ; he was ever on the brink of martyrdom. Figu- 
ratively, speaking popularly, " after the manner of men," 
he had fought as with wild beasts at Ephesus. Grant 
an immortality, and all this has a meaning ; deny it, and 
it was in him a gratuitous folly. A life of martyrdom 
proves, at all events, that men are in earnest, though 
they may not be true. The value of such a testimony 
to immortality must be farther proved by considering 
whether the grounds were such that men could judge of 
them unmistakeably. St. Paul devotes the beginning of 
this chapter to the proof of the reality of the fact. After- 
wards, by a rednctio ad absardum, he argues that if Christ 
be not risen, the whole question of right and wrong is 
decided in favour of wrong. St. Paul does not say, " We 
are mistaken," but he says, " We are found liars." 

Now in what does the absurdity of this consist? The 
Apostles must have been either good or bad men. If 



TO THE COSINTHIAIsS. 275 

good, that they should have told this lie is incredible, 
for Christianity is to make men not false, hut better, more 
holy, more humble, and more pure. If bad men, why 
did they sacrifice themselves for the cause of goodness? 
In suffering and in death, they witnessed to the truth 
which they taught; and it is a moral monstrosity that 
good men should die for what they believed to be a lie. 
It is a gross absurdity that men should bear indignity, 
woe, and pain, if they did not believe that there would 
he an eternal life for which all this was a preparation. 
For if souls be immortal, then Christianity has been an 
inestimable blessing: spirits have begun a sanctification 
here which will progress for ever : but if souls be not 
immortal, then it is quite a question whether Christianity 
has blessed the world or not. We personally may think 
it has, but if we reject the immortality of man, there is 
much to be said on the other side. A recent writer has 
argued very plausibly that Christianity has done nothing. 
And if immortality be untrue, then we may almost agree 
with him when we remember the persecutions, the prison 
and the torture chamber, the religious wars and tyrannies 
which have been inflicted and carried on in the name of 
Christ; when we remember that even in tins nineteenth 
century cannibalism and the torture of prisoners are still 
prevailing. Again, are we quite sure that Christian 
America, with her slavery, is a great advance on pagan 
Rome? or Christian England either, with her religious 
hatreds and her religious pride ? If the Kingdom of God 
comes only with observation, I am not certain that we can 
show cause why that life of sublime devotion of St. PauPs 
was not a noble existence wasted. 

T 2 



276 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

And again, if the soul be not immortal, Christian life, 
not merely apostolic devoteclness, is se a grand imper- 
tinence." " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die," 
was the motto and epitaph of Sardanapalus ; and if this 
life be All, we defy you to disprove the wisdom of such 
reasoning. How many of the myriads of the human race 
would do right, for the sake of right, if they were only 
to live fifty 'years, and then die for evermore? Go to 
the sensualist, and tell him that a noble life is better than 
a base one, even for that time, and he will answer: "I 
like pleasure better than virtue : you can do as you 
please ; for me, I will wisely enjoy my time. It is 
merely a matter of taste. By taking away my hope 
of a resurrection you have dwarfed good and evil, and 
shortened their consequences. If I am only to live sixty 
or seventy years, there is no eternal right or wrong. 
By destroying the thought of immortality, I have lost 
the sense of the infinitude of evil, and the eternal nature 
of good." 

Besides, with our hopes of immortality gone, the value 
of Humanity ceases, and people become not worth living 
for. We have not got a motive strong enough to keep 
us from sin. Christianity is to redeem from evil: it 
loses its power if the idea of immortal life be taken 
away. Go, then, to the sensualist, and tell him that, 
though the theory of a Life to come be a dream, yet 
that here the pleasure of doing right is a sublimer ex- 
istence than that of self-indulgence. He will answer you, 
" Yes, but my appetites are strong, and it will cost me 
much to master them. The struggle will be with pain ; 
and, at last, only a few years will be left. The victory 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 277 

is uncertain, and the present enjoyment is sure, and there 
is the banquet of life before me, and the wine sparkling in 
the cup, and passion rising in its might ; why should I 
refrain ? " 

Do you think you can arrest that with some fine senti- 
ment about nobler and baser being? Why, you have 
made him out base already. He dies, you tell him, like 
a dog ; why should he live like an angel ? You have 
the angelic tendency, and prefer the higher life. Well, live 
according to your nature; but he has the baser craving, 
and prefers the brute life. Why should he not live it ? 
Ye, who deny the resurrection to immortality, answer 
me that ! 

No, my brethren ; the instincts of the animal will be more 
than a match for all the transcendental reasonings of the 
philosopher. If there be in us only that which is born of 
the flesh, only the mortal Adam, and not the immortal 
Christ, if to-morrow we die, then the conclusion cannot 
be put aside — S( Let us eat and drink, for the Present is 
our All." 



278 LECTUBES ON THE EPISTLES 



LECTURE XXX. 

1 Corinthians, xv. 35-45. — " But some man will say, How are the dead 
raised up ? and with what body do they come ? — Thou fool, that 
which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die : — And that which 
thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, 
it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain : — But God giveth it a 
body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. — All 
flesh is not the same flesh : but there is one kind of flesh of men, 
another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. — 
There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial : but the glory 
of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. — 
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and 
another glory of the stars : for one star differetk from another star in 
glory. — So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corrup- 
tion ; it is raised in incorruption : — It is sown in dishonour ; it is 
raised in glory : it is sown in weakness ; it is raised in power: — It is 
sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural 
body, and there is a spiritual body. — And so it is written, The first 
man Adam was made a living soul ; the last Adam was made a quick- 
ening spirit." 

We have already divided this chapter into three sections. 
In the first and second sections we spoke of the proofs of 
the Resurrection ; and these we fonnd to be twofold — the 
reductio ad absurdum, which demonstrated it by showing 
the monstrous admissions a denier of the Resurrection was 
compelled to make; and the historical fact of Christ's 
resurrection. 

In the third we arrived at the truth that His resurrec- 
tion involved in it ours, and we replied to the questions 
Why and When. We asked why does it imply our resur- 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 279 

rection ? and the answer given was, that in us there exist* 
a twofold nature — the animal or Adamic, containing in it no 
germ of immortality; and the Divine or Christlike, the spirit 
which we receive from the Eternal Word, and by right of 
which we are heirs of the Immortal Life. f, 'For as in 
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." 
¥y T e asked, When shall this resurrection finally take place ? 
and the reply given was, Not till the period which is called 
the Second Advent. St. Paul, leaving the question of Im- 
mortality untouched, pronounces that Resurrection cannot 
be till the end of all things. For all is moving on to a 
mighty consummation, and the blessing of an individual 
part can only be with the blessing of the whole. 

To-day we shall be engaged on the fourth section — the 
credibility of a resurrection. St. Paul, in this portion of 
the chapter, replies to the question of possibility, " How 
are the dead raised ? " And this he answers by arguments 
from analogy. As the seed dies before it can be quickened, 
as there is one glory of the sun and another glory of the 
moon, as the imperfect precedes the perfect, as our natural 
life is earlier than our spiritual — so is the resurrection of 
the dead. 

First, then, as to the nature of the argument from analogy. 
Analogy is probability from a parallel case. We assume 
that the same law which operates in the one case will in 
another, if there be a resemblance between the relations of 
the two tilings compared. Thus, when in reply to the dis- 
ciples, who did not comprehend the necessity of His death, 
Christ said, " Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground 
and die, it abideth alone : but if it die, it bringeth forth much 
fruit," He was reasonino- from analogy. For as in nature 



280 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

life comes through death, so also is it in the world of 
spirit. The Law of Sacrifice, which accounts for the one 
fact, will also explain the other. Thus, when St. Paul 
shows that the life of the seed is continued after apparent 
death in a higher form, and argues, that in like manner 
the human spirit may be reunited to form, he reasons from 
analogy. He assumes that there is a probability of the 
same laAV operating in one case as operated in the other. 

But we must remember how far this argument is valid, 
and what is its legitimate force. It does not amount to 
proof; it only shows that the thing in question is credible. 
It does not demonstrate that a resurrection must be, it 
only shows that it may be. For it does not follow that 
because the Law of Sacrifice is found in the harvest, there- 
fore it shall be found in the redemption of the world, and 
that Christ's death must redeem ; but it does follow that this 
doctrine of Atonement is not incredible, for it is found to be 
in harmony with the analogies of nature. The conceiv- 
ableness of the Atonement follows from the analogies drawn 
from nature's laws working in the wheat ; but the proof of 
the Atonement is the word of Christ Himself. 

It does not follow that, because after death the life in a 
corn of wheat appears again, therefore the life in the human 
soul will be continued ; but it does follow that the resur- 
rection is quite intelligible and conceivable, and the 
objector who says it is impossible is silenced. 

Now, it is in this way that St. Paul concludes his 
masterly argument. He proves the resurrection from the 
historical fact, and by the absurdity which follows from 
denial of it ; and then he shows that so proved, it is only 
parallel to a thousand daily facts by the analogies which he 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 281 

draws from the dying and upspringing corn, and from the 
diverse glories of the sum and moon, and stars. Let us dis- 
tinguish, therefore, between the relative value of these argu- 
ments. We live, it is true, in a world filled with wondrous 
transformations, which suggest to us the likelihood of our 
immortality. The caterpillar passes into the butterfly, the 
snowdrop dies to rise again, Spring leaps to life from the 
arms of Winter, and the world rejoices in its resurrection. 
God gives us all this merciful assistance to our faith. But 
it is not on these grounds that our belief rests. These are 
not our proofs ; they are only corroborations and illustrations, 
for it does not follow with certainty that the body of man 
shall be restored because the chrysalis, an apparent corpse, 
still lives. No : we fetch our proofs from the Word of 
God, and the nature of the human soul : and we fetch our 
probabilities and illustrations from the suggestive world 
of types which lies all around us. 

We pass on now, in the second place, to consider the 
credibility of the Resurrection ; that is how, according to 
right reason, we can believe it possible, and that it is not 
irrational to believe it. Now there are two difficulties 
advanced: Firstly, in the question, "How are the dead 
raised ? " and in that which is a mere sneer, " With what 
body do they come ? " 

The question, How are the dead raised, may be a philo- 
sophical one. Let us understand it plainly. We are told 
that the entire human body undergoes a process of change 
every certain number of years, so that at the end of that 
time there is not a single particle which is the same as at 
first ; and then there comes this question, How shall the 
dead be raised ? with which of these bodies do they come ? 



282 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES 

And again, we know that the human body is dissolved in 
various ways, sometimes in fire ; and then comes the 
question, How are all these scattered portions to reunite ? 
do we really mean that the sound of the Archangel's 
trumpet shall bring them all together again? And then 
those who are wise in such matters tell us that there is not 
a single portion of the globe which has not, some time or 
other, been organic form. The other question is not a 
philosophical one, but merely a sneer, With what body 
do they come ? It is as if the objector had said, " Let 
there be nothing vague: tell us all about it — you who 
assert you are inspired." 

Now to these objections the Apostle Paul replies by 
analogy, and so far shows the credibility of the Resur- 
rection. He discerns in tins world three principles : First, 
that life, even in its lowest form, has the power of assimi- 
lating to itself atoms ; — he takes the corn of wheat, which, 
after being apparently destroyed, rises again, appropriating, 
as it grows, all that has affinity with itself, such as air and 
moisture: that body with which it is raised may be called 
its own body, and yet it is a new body. It is raised anew, 
with stem, and leaves, and fruit, and yet all the while we 
know that it is no new corn : it is the old life in the seed 
reappearing developed in a higher form. It is a marvellous 
thing to see the power whereby that which we call the 
germ grows ; how nothing can withstand it : how it 
creeps, climbs, and pierces even through walls, making 
for itself a way everywhere. Observe the force of the 
argument that arises from this fact, the argument of 
analogy. It does not prove the Resurrection, but it shows 
its probability. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 283 

The second analogy that St. Paul sees in nature is, the 
marvellous superabundance of the creative power of God. 
God has planted illimited and unnumbered things. K There 
is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and 
another glory of the stars," and yet there is a difference 
between them — "one star ditfereth from another star in 
glory."' There are gradations in all these forms — bodies 
celestial and bodies terrestrial — "but the glory of the 
celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another." 
Here is an answer to all objections — " With what body do 
they come?" Are we to believe that God has exhausted 
His creative power, that He has done all He could have 
done, and that He could make no new form ? Are we to 
believe that the Wisdom and the Knowledge, which have 
never been fathomed by the wisest, are expended, and that 
the Powder of God should be insufficient to find for the 
glorified spirit a form fit for it ? We simply reply to the 
objection — " With what body do they come ?" — "Look at 
the creative power of God ! " 

The third principle which St. Paul refers to, is the 
principle of progress. The law of the universe is not 
Pharisaism — the law of custom stereotyped, and never to 
be changed. The law r of God's universe is progress ; and 
just as it w r as in creation — first the lower, and then the 
higher — so it is throughout, progressive happiness, pro- 
gressive knowledge, progressive virtue. St. Paul takes 
one instance : u That was not first which is spiritual, but 
that which is natural." At first we lead a mere animal life 
— the life of instinct ; then, as we grow older, passion 
succeeds ; and after the era of passion our spirituality 
comes, if it comes at all — after and not before. St. Paul 



284 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

draws a probability from this, that what our childhood was 
to our manhood — something imperfect followed by that 
which is more perfect — so will it be hereafter : our present 
humanity, with all its majesty, is nothing more than 
ho man infancy. 

Lastly, St. Paul finds that all this coincides with the 
yearnings of the human heart. " When this corruptible shall 
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put 
on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying 
that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." This is 
the substance of two prophecies, one in Isaiah, the other in 
Hosea, and expresses the yearnings of the heart for immor- 
tality. And we may observe that these yearnings are in 
accordance with our own. No man, in a high mood, ever 
felt that this life was really all. No man ever looked on 
life and was satisfied. No man ever looked at the world 
without hoping that a time is coming when that creation 
which is now groaning and travailing in bondage shall 
be brought into the glorious liberty of the Son of God. 
No man ever looked upon our life, and felt that it was 
to remain always what it now is : he could not and 
would not believe that we are left here, till our mortality 
predominates, and then that the grave is all. And this 
feeling, felt in a much greater and higher degree, becomes 
prophecy. Isaiah says, " Death shall be swallowed up in 
victory." We find a yearning in our own hearts after 
immortality, and that not in our lowest, but in our highest 
moods ; and when we look around, instead of finding some- 
thing which damps our aspirations, wo find the external 
world corroborating them. Then how shall we account for 
this marvellous coincidence ? Shall we believe that these 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 285 

two tilings point to nothing ? Shall we believe and shall 
we say that God our Father has cheated us with a lie ? 
Therefore St. Paul concludes his masterly and striking 
argument thus : " When this corruptible shall have put on 
incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immor- 
tality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is 
written, Death is swallowed up in victory." 

Of course, if there be no Immortality and no Resurrec- 
tion, it matters not whom you injure, nor what you do. 
If you injure him who has trusted you, of what con- 
quence is it? In a few years all will be past and over. 
And if there be no Immortality and no Resurrection, it 
matters not what you do to yourself, whether you injure 
your own soul or not. But if there be a Life to come, 
then the evil deed you did is not ended by its commission, 
but it will still go on and on : The evil you have done to 
others will remain throughout Eternity ; the evil you have 
done to your own soul will spread; as when you throw a 
stone into a pond the circles go on widening and spread- 
ing, so will that sin spread and increase over the sea of 
Eternity. If there be no Resurrection, then there are 
deeds of sacrifice which it would be no use to do ; but if 
there be an Immortality and a Resurrection, then what- 
ever good you do shall never be left unrewarded : the act 
of purity, the act of self-denial, the act of sacrifice, will 
ennoble you, making you holier and better. "Be not 
deceived ; God is not mocked : for whatsoever a man 
soweth, that shall he also reap ;" or, as at the conclusion 
of this chapter : " Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye 
stedfast, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in 
vain in the Lord ! " 



286 LECTURES OX THE EPISTLES 



LECTURE XXXI. 

1 Corinthians, xv. 46-53. — "' Howbeit that was not first which is 
spiritual, but that which is natural ; and afterward that which is 
spiritual. — The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man 
is the Lord from heaven. — As is the earthy, such are they also that 
are earthy : and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are 
heavenly. — And as Ave have borne the image of the earthy, we shall 
also bear the image of the heavenly. — Mow this I say, brethren, that 
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of Go:l ; neither doth 
corruption inherit incorruption. — Behold, I shew you a mystery; "We 
shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, — In a moment, in the 
twinkling of an eye, at the last trump : for the trumpet shall sound, 
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. — 
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must 
put on immortality. — So when this corruptible shall have put on in- 
corruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall 
be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up 
in victory. — death, where is thy sting ? grave, where is thy 
victory? — The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the 
law. — But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our 
Lord Jesus Christ. — Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, 
unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as 
ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." 

The fifteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corin- 
thians, which has so often fallen on our ears like music in 
the night amidst funeral blackness, is filled with arguments, 
presumptive and direct, which tend to make Immortality 
credible : and amongst others St. Paul uses the analogy 
of the harvest, and argues from it the resurrection of the 
body : " It is sown a natural body ; it is raised a spiritual 
body." 



TO THE COIilNTBIA^S. 287 

Now many an objector, on hearing this saying, might 
plausibly ask, Why this delay ? why should not God 
create the perfect spiritual life at once ? St. Paul antici- 
pates this, and in answer applies a general law of the uni- 
verse to the case before him. Such an immediate life of 
spiritual glory would be contrary to the Divine order in 
God's creation, for the Law of that order is this : " How- 
beit that was not first wliich is spiritual, but that which is 
natural; and afterward that which is spiritual." 

Thus we have here a general principle adduced for a 
special purpose, which principle is yet not confined by 
St. Paul to this special case, but is felt by him to be one 
of universal application. For it is the peculiarity of this 
philosophical Apostle, that he connects Christianity with 
God's universe. In the Atonement, in the Resurrection, 
he sees no strange isolated facts, but the Truths which 
are found everywhere in various forms. And just as a 
naturalist would refer any particular species to some great 
type, so he finds at once the place for any Christian 
doctrine under some great and general Law. This prin- 
ciple, that the natural precedes the spiritual, it will be our 
business to trace to-day. 

We will consider first, then, The universality of this 
Law. And, 

Secondly, The spiritual instances given of it. 

I. Its universality is disclosed in the order of Creation. 
No ingenuity can reconcile the formal statements respect- 
ing the creation made by Moses with those made by 
modern science. The story of the Creation as told by 
Moses is one thing, as told by men of science it is another 
thincr altoo-ether. For the Bible is not a scientific work : 



^0 LECTUEES ON THE EPISTLES 

it does not deal with hypotheses, nor with formal facts 
which are of time, and must necessarily vary, but it 
declares Eternal principles. It is not a revelation of the 
truths of Geology or Astronomy, but it is a revelation of 
the Character of God to us. And yet the spiritual prin- 
ciples declared by Moses are precisely those revealed by 
science. The first chapter of Genesis starts with the 
doctrine that the heavens and the earth, that light and 
darkness, were all created by One and the same God. 
Modern science day by day reveals more clearly the unitv 
of design that pervades creation. Again, in Moses' account 
nothing is more remarkable than the principle of gra- 
dation on which he tells us the universe arose. And 
this is confirmed at every step by science. To this the 
accumulated strata bear their witness, to this the organic 
remains testify continually. Xot that first which is 
highest, but that which is lowest : First, the formless 
earth, then the green herb growing on the sides of the 
upraised mountains, then the lowest forms of animal 
existence, then the highest types, then man, the last and 
noblest. And then, perhaps, an age to come when all 
shall be swept away to make room for a higher and nobler 
race of beings. For "that is not first which is spiritual, 
but that which is natural." 

Again the universality of this law is seen in the pro- 
gress of the Jewish nation. 

We take it as an instance of this Law among nations, 
because the Jews were confessedly the most spiritual of 
mankind. So vast is the interval between them and all 
others, that the collected works which, in speaking of 
another people, would be called a national literature, are 



10 THE COBINTHIAKS. 289 

of tliein called an inspired Bible. The Scriptures stand 
separate from all other books, unapproachable in their 
spirituality. ^Marvellous, too, was the combination in 
them of the Asiatic veneration — of religious awe and con- 
templation — with the stern moral sense which belongs to 
the more northern nations. You will find among Hindoos 
a sense of the invisible as strong, and among the German 
family of nations an integrity as severe, but nowhere will 
you find the two so united as in the history of the chosen 
people. 

And now having considered what the Jews attained 
to, remember what they rose from — recollect their origin. 
They were a nation of slaves. Original] v, too, of a 
stock more than commonly rude, hard, and rugged, they 
became in Egypt and in Palestine sensual, idolatrous, and 
money-loving. Xo history surpasses in horror the cruelty 
of the wars of Canaan. None tells such a tale of obsti- 
nacy, of gross indulgence, of minds apparently incapable 
of receiving spiritual principles. You are reminded of 
one of those trees, whose exposed roots are seen gnarled 
and twisted, hard as iron, more like rock than wood, and 
yet whose foliage above is rich and noble : below extends 
the basis of the coarse and natural, above are manifested 
the beautiful and spiritual. 

And this was not concealed from the Jews. Their pro- 
phets unvaryingly proclaimed the national character, and 
described them as the " most stiff-necked of people." 
They were taught to say at one of their feasts: (i A 
Syrian ready to perish was my father/' They were 
reminded, " Look to the rock from whence you were 
hewn, and the hole of the pit from whence you were 

u 



290 LECTURES ON THE EriSTEES. 

digged." For through many progressive stages was the 
great work of their elevation wrought ; by slow grada- 
tions did this nation of slaves rise into being a spiritual 
people. (i That was not first which was spiritual, but 
that which was natural." 

The universality of this law is shown again in the 
progress of the human race. 

" The first man Adam was made a living soul, the last 
Adam was made a quickening spirit" " The first man is 
of the earth, earthy : the second man is the Lord from 
heaven." Nothing is more common than elaborate deli- 
neations of the perfect state of the first man. If we trust 
such descriptions, Eden was perfect heaven, and Adam 
was furnished with all knowledge intuitively, and adorned 
with every grace. But when we get away from poetry 
and picture-painting, we find that men have drawn largely 
from their imaginations without the warrant of one syllable 
of Scripture to corroborate the truth of the colouring. 
St. Paul says Adam was (i of the earth, earthy ;" and 
again, he calls him (C a living soul." Now recollect what 
soul (^^X^) mean t« The adjective corresponding to this 
substantive is used in 1 Cor. ii. 14., and is translated 
natural : (i The natural man receiveth not the things of the 
spirit of God." The natural man is therefore a man with 
a soul, the spiritual man is the man with a spirit. Adam 
was therefore " a living soul," that is, a natural man — a 
man with intelligence, perception, and a moral sense, with 
power to form a society and to subdue Nature to himself. 
He was that, and that only. 

The Fall, then, was only a necessary consequence of 
a state of mere nature. It was a step downwards from 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 291 

innocence, but also it was a step onwards — a giant step in 
human progress. It made goodness possible ; for to know 
the evil, and to conquer it and choose the good, is far nobler 
than a state which only consists in our ignorance of both. 
Until the step of nature has been passed, the step of 
spirituality cannot be made. " That was not first which 
was spiritual, but that which was natural." 

Thus did the Race begin to share in the spiritual ; and 
among many nations, and by means of many men, was the 
progress of mankind evolved; but their light was too 
scattered, and their isolated lives imparted little life. So 
the next stage in the progress of the Race was the Birth, 
and Life, and Death, and risen Glory of Him who was 
made "a quickening Spirit." Then it was that in the 
fulness of time He was born who was the blossoming 
of our Humanity : differing from the race that had gone 
before as the flower differs from the wood on which it 
grows : of the same nature and yet of another, more 
delicate and more ethereal. The natural man had passed, 
the spiritual Man was come. The spiritual Man, whose 
prerogative it was, not as the first Adam, to live in Eden 
for himself, but as the second Adam, to die on Calvary 
for others ; not as the first Adam, to receive happiness ; 
but as the second Adam, to confer Life. It was no longer 
the natural man, but the quickening Spirit, that repre- 
sented the Race to God. The natural had risen into the 
spiritual. The first man was of the earth, earthy; the 
second man was the Lord from Heaven. 

II. The Spiritual Instances of this Law. 

The law which is found to be true of Nations and of 
the Race is generally true of persons also ; though in 

U 2 



292 LECTUEES ON THE EPISTLES 

particulars its influence may be modified by individual pecu- 
liarities. Generally, then, this law is true of us as men. 

And, first, our natural affections precede our spiritual. 

There are two tables of Commandments : " Thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God," and " Thou shalt love thy neigh- 
bom- as thyself; " and there are two orders in which they 
stand to each other. In the order of importance the love 
of God is first ; in the order of time the love of man pre- 
cedes, that is, we begin by loving Man, we do not begin 
by loving God. Let us trace this principle further. Love 
to Man also begins lower down. We do not love our 
neighbours first ; we do not all at once embrace the Race 
in our affection; we ascend from a lower point. "Thou 
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself — " the Table given on 
Sinai does not say that : it only specifies one kind of 
love — the love of children to parents. There are no 
rules given there of friendship, of patriotism, or of uni- 
versal philanthropy; for in the Fifth Commandment they 
all lie as the future oak-tree lies in the acorn: the root 
of all the other developments of love, is love and honour 
unto parents. That injunction laid the foundation deep 
and broad. For life depends greatly on the relations : 
"the child is father to the man." Rarely, when the 
mother has been all that woman should be, and the father 
has been true to the protecting and guiding, the tender 
and strong instincts of his manhood, does the child turn 
out unnatural. But where there has been a want of these 
things, where any one part of the boy's nature has re- 
mained uncultivated, there the subsequent relationships 
will be ill sustained. For the friend, the husband, the 
citizen are formed at the domestic hearth. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 293 

There is yet one step further : out of human love grows 
love to God. A miserable and sad mistake is often made 
in opposition to this fact. There are men and women 
of cold and palsied affections who think of giving to God 
the love which has become cold to men. Settle it in. 
your minds, God does not work so. It is quite true 
that Christianity makes the sublime demand on belie vers, 
" If a man hate not father and mother, wife and children, 
his own life also, he cannot be my disciple;" but before 
that was said it had demanded that we should " love 
our neighbour as ourselves," that we should "honour 
our father and mother." And paradoxical as it may 
seem, vou will never attain to that state of love to God 
which can sacrifice the dearest affections rather than do 
wrong, until you have cultivated them to the highest 
possible degree. For it is only by being true to all the 
lower forms of love, that we learn at last that fidelity to 
the highest love which can sacrifice them all rather than 
violate its sacredness. 

Again, there is another mistake made by those who 
demand the love of God from a child. The time does 
come to every child, as it came to the Childhood of Christ, 
when the loi~e of the earthly parent is felt to be second 
to the love of the Heavenly Father ; but this is not the first, 
" for that is not first which is spiritual, but that which is 
natural." It is true, there have been cases where chil- 
dren have given striking proof of love to God, but these, 
even to a proverb, die young, because they are preco- 
cious, unnatural, forced ; and God never forces character. 

For a time the father represents God, is in the place 
of God to the child. He is to train the affections which 



294 LECTUIIES ON THE EPISTLES 

afterwards shall be given to God; and the brother those 
which shall expand hereafter for Christ. Like the trellis 
round which the tendrils clasp till they are fit to trans- 
plant, so are the powers of love within the child supported 
and strengthened as he leans upon his father, till they are 
mature enough to stand alone for God. And you cannot 
reverse this without great peril to the child's spiritual 
nature. You cannot force love to God. By no outrageous 
leaps, but by slow walking, is the spiritual love reached. 

Lastly : The Moral precedes the Spiritual. 

Let us remember once more the definition we have given 
of the word " soul," — 'the moral and intellectual qualities 
belonging to the man. And then let us take the Apostle's 
own words, " The first man Adam was made a living soul, 
the last Adam was made a quickening spirit." And this 
is true of all, for the history of the Jewish race, of the 
Human race, is repeated in the history of every individual. 
There is a time when the Adam is formed within us, when 
the Christ begins to be formed, when we feel within us 
the sense of (i Christ in us, the hope of glory," when the 
e{ living soul," as ruler of the man, gives place to the 
" quickening spirit." Ever it is true that the animal, the 
intellectual, and the moral precede the spiritual life. 

But there are two stages through which we pass : 
through Temptation, and through Sorrow. 

1. It was through temptation that the first Adam fell 
from a state of nature. It was through temptation, too, 
that the second Adam redeemed Humanity into a state 
of trace. To the first Adam this world was as a garden 
is to a child, in which he has nothing to do but to taste 
and enjoy. Duty came with its infinite demands : it came 



TO THE COBINTHIAKS. 295 

into collision with the finite appetites, and he fell. The 
first state is simply that of untempted innocence. In the 
temptation of the second Adam infinite Duty consecrated 
certain principles of action "without reference to conse- 
quences : " Man shall not live by bread alone : " u Thou 
shalt not tempt the Lord thy God : " (i Thou shalt worship 
the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." We 
pass into the spiritual state when we fall. It is not better 
to do right : you must do right. It is not merely worse 
for you to do wrong — the law is, Thou shalt not ! 

2. Through Sorrow. Xote here the difference between 
Adam and Christ. Adam's was a state of satisfied hap- 
piness, Christ's was one of noble aspiration : His was a 
Divine Sorrow, there was a secret sadness in the heart of 
the Son of Man. There is a difference between Child- 
hood and Age, between Christian and un-Christian motives. 
Out of contemplations such as these we collect a presump- 
tion of immortality. 



ii.it: is ::•' i: 



LECTURE XXXII. 

1 Cobtxthulss, xri. 1-9. — " Xow concerning the collection for the 

ye. — Upon the first day of the week let erery one of you lay by him 

iz ;:::: :..i '-■:■:. I :I ::: ; ;::-i Ii~. : '..;.: -..::. c~ :: _ :.:'..::..:_.- 
— '.. . . ~ . . — A .'. ■ '..'. I : . .. .-. •-'.. : - : v~ :■: 7:- il.C ; . : r 17 
7: : I--- - :lf~ ~!1 I - -.1 :; *.:r:rr 7 :: ".:": : I-;- -.-_:'.: : I.-r •;.:.-.'.;" . 
— And if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me. — B 
— ill : . . \--.- 7:". -':.:; I ;'.: 11 r;.i = :..r:i.": V:.: ■. :I : zLl : :':•: 1 1: 
. : - - : _■'. 1 1 : . : ..-—A;-.' i: : 7 ' . : : I ~ .". ' . I:-. 77.1. :-- 1 
winter with yon, that ye may bring me on my journey whithersoeTer 
I - — T : I -ill z:z ;:•: 7 . .: :: : - 7 :I_ ' .7 . " 1: 1 :: :.:•: :: :..::7 1 
while with yon, if the Lord permit. — Bat I wiE tarry at Ephesns 
-..v.. L . ::_.-: —7 : _. . : 1: : ;.-. 1 : = t.:-.-..-.1 :; :r~z.zi :..:: m. 
:.:.'. : ' . .:. ire ::_;.". 7 :.l .:::.:_. = . 

Tzz ---'..:".;- : -"._:- E" :=:!= : ; :. :_:. :.;.r~ in ::? :'.!•: -^-r.iz 
i: :. ; : : " ~v_ :-"■" .m - _■;.::_ :.::.::■-. Lil-:f :".". ..: :: '':.-: R :m:.:;s. :::r 
was it written to meet my one cardinal error, like the 
Epistles to the Galatians and Hebrews: bnt it arose in 
the settlement of a nmlfitnde of questions which agitated 
the Corinthian Church. The way in which St. Paul in 
this chapter enters on new ground is very character: ~:i 

: :"ne abrupt style of the Epistle- The solemn topic of 
the Resurrection is closed, and now a subject of merely 
... "::::>::-: i: :;.::. ~.\; : ".. Tlr A~: :=:lr 7:'-- = i:re:::;n^. 
in the first four verses, respecting a certain charitable 
collection to be made by the Corinthians, in conjunction 
with other Gentile Churches, for the poor at Jerusalem 



TO THE CORESTHIANS. 297 

We bare here an illustration of one peculiar use of 
Scripture. The event recorded here has long since past : 
the interest which hung around it was merely local: the 
actors in it have been buried for many centuries : the 
temporary distress spoken of here was long since relieved : 
even the Apostle himself has written simply and entirely 
for his own time. And yet the whole account is as living, 
and fresh, and pregnant with instruction to us to-day, 
as it was to the Corinthians of that age. Reflections 
crowd upon us while pondering on the history. We 
understand something of what is meant by Inspiration. 
We watch the principles which are involved in the 
apostolic mode of meeting the dilemma, and we find 
that that which was written for a church at Corinth 
contains lessons for the Church of all ages. The par- 
ticular occasion is past, but the principles and the truths 
remain. 

To-day, then, we investigate two points : 

I. The call for charity. 
II. The principle of its exercise. 

I. The call for charity. 

We learn from the fifteenth chapter of the Epistle to 
the Romans, at the twenty-sixth verse, the occasion of 
this collection. It seems that the Jewish converts in 
Jerusalem, being excommunicated and persecuted, were in 
great distress, and that St. Paul summoned the Gentile 
converts in Achaia, Galatia, and at Rome to alleviate 
their difficulties. Xow observe, first, how all distinctions 
of race had melted away before Christianity. This was 
not the first time that collections had been made for Jeru- 



298 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

salera. Josephus tells us that they had been sent by foreign 
Jews to keep up the Temple at Jerusalem, that is, money 
had been contributed by Jews for a Jewish object. But 
here was a Jewish object supported by Gentile sub- 
scriptions. This was a new thing in the world. 

The hard lines of demarcation were fading away for 
ever, the veil of Christ's Humanity was torn down. He 
lived no longer as the Jew, He had risen as the Man, 
the Saviour, not of one people, but of the world, and in 
Him all were one. Henceforth there was neither Jew 
nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female: but Christ 
was All. 

Observe acrain: Galatia and Corinth were now interested 

o 

in the same object. It was not merely Corinth united to 
Jerusalem, or Galatia to Jerusalem, but Jerusalem, Corinth, 
and Galatia were linked by a common object to each other. 
You have seen a magnet applied to a mass of iron filings, 
and watched the multitude of delicate points all adhering 
to each other, through the invisible influence which, sent 
throughout them all, makes each in its turn a magnet. 
To scattered races and divided peoples, to separate castes 
and ancient enmities, Christ was the Magnet which united 
all. His Spirit gave to all a common interest, and that 
is the closest bond of union. As suowsted here, the dif- 
ferent parts of Christendom were made to feel together. 
Benumbed and paralyzed till then, the frame of Humanity 
was suddenly made to throb with a common life. 

Now this had been done before in a way, by other 
means which were less sacred. Two hitherto have princi- 
pally been employed, War and Trade. In earlier times 
the different tribes of the Roman Republic, even those 



TO THE COEINTHIANS. 299 

who were opposing parties in the city, were united on 
the field of battle; they felt they w^ere warring for the 
same cause, and they struck as one man for their altars 
and their homes. Later in history we find that Trade 
united men by mutual interest. We will not injure 
others, said men, because, by so doing, we shall injure 
ourselves. And on this principle the great gathering of 
the nations last year was a pledge of union. It was a 
good and great effort in its way, but still it was only 
an appeal to self-interest. 

In a far higher, nobler, and finer way Christianity 
unites, first, to Christ, and then, through Christ, each to 
the other. We are bound up each in each, not through 
a common hatred, not through a common interest even, 
but through a common love. So it was that Galatia and 
Corinth worked together for Jerusalem, inspired with a 
common sympathy, a common affection, and therefore the 
Galatians loved the Corinthians and the Corinthians the 
Galatians. 

Here, however, a remark suggests itself. This has not 
been realized since, in any degree adequate to the first 
promise of its youth. This binding together of Corinth, 
Rome, and Galatia — what has there been like it in after 
ages ? One gleam of sunshine, the prophecy of a glorious 
noon to come, struck upon the world, but the promise of 
the day was soon overclouded. So also there has been 
nothing equal to the outpouring at Pentecost; nor has 
a similar self-forgetfulness ever characterized the church 
since, as in that day when all things were common; nor has 
anything like the early miracles arisen since among the 
messengers of Christ. It would seem as if God gave at 



300 LECTURES OX THE EPISTLES 

the outset, in that large flood of Love poured upon the 
Church, a specimen and foretaste of that which is to he 
hereafter. Just as on the Transfiguration Mount we catch 
a glimpse of glory, not to he repeated or realized for ages, 
which we feel was given to sustain a travailing world 
throuo-h davs and years of sickness and of sufferincr. 

Remark how in God ? s counsels sorrow draws out good. 
The Jewish Christians suffered from poverty and per- 
secution. "Well : kindly feelings awoke to life at Corinth 
and at Rome : these were the result of the misery at 
Jerusalem. Pain and Sorrow are mysteries. Inexpli- 
cable often is it, in our life, why we are afhieted; but 
sometimes the veil is drawn aside, and we see the reason 
clearly. And here, to the church of Jerusalem, was not 
all this rich result of beauty and spiritual goodness 
cheaply purchased ? Remember, the sufferers at Jeru- 
salem could not see the meaning of their sorrow. They 
did not know how many a Greek and Roman was weekly 
laying up his store : they did not know that an Apostle 
was writing and contrivino- in their behalf. Thev could 
not see how through then pain Galatia, and Corinth, 
and Rome were drawn by cords of love together. They 
saw only their own distress, they felt only their own 
forlomness. 

Just in the same way we often suffer, and see no good 
result from it. But, assuredly, we are not suffering in 
vain: some lesson has been taught : some sympathies have 
been aroused: some consolation has been given. That 
mysterious connexion which links the universe together 
has brought, or will bring, good to others out of our suf- 
fering. Xow here is a new asoect of consolation. That is 



TO THE COKINTHIANS. 301 

a common and trite view, though, deep in its truth, which 
reminds us that suffering works out for us a weight of 
glory — which tells how our characters are perfected through 
suffering. There is a higher Christian light to see our 
pain in : it blesses others. My brethren, it is a high 
lesson to be willing to suffer for this cause ! This is the 
blessedness of the Suffering of Christ ; it is the Law of 
the Cross ; it is the vicarious principle pervading Life that 
voluntarily, or involuntarily, we must suffer for others. 
If others are benefited involuntarily by our sufferings, 
then we do no more than the beasts who fulfil the law of 
their being unconsciously, who yield up their lives un- 
willingly, and, therefore, are not blest by it. But if we 
are willing to bear our woe because we know that good 
will accrue, we know not how, or why, or when, to others, 
then we have indeed become partakers of Christ's Spirit, 
and learnt a Godlike lesson. To be willing to bear in 
order to teach others ! — to lose, in order that others may 
" through us noblier live — " that is to know something of 
the blessedness He knew. 

Again, if this distress came through persecutions, 
then there was a signal fulfilment of the promise. For 
here relationships are representative only; they do but 
shadow out realities. Our earthly relationships typify 
truer spiritual ones. The father after the flesh is often 
not the one to whom in life we look with the most filial 
reverence. There is a Friend who sticketh closer than 
a brother. And so, in firm faith, we must move through 
life, nothing daunting us. On — onwards ! Though the 
path be dark, we shall not be left lonely — none ever 
have been. 



LECTUKES /n IHfi EPISTLES 

II. le of the exercke of Charity. 

Wf Qsider his its manner and measure : — 

1. Systematic in manner; — It was be be on the first 
k was to 1 i store as God 

rosj sred him. Thai isj instead i:ing for 

stin eah they wore to make charity the 

bus ass their lives, Week I week : uild 

a] sum lor St. Paul :; send tc srosaleni. This eontri- 
y, s stematacall; gathered, was to be a mat 
. ■ I im olse. li is | 3s2 k thai 
burni ? speech f St Paul's might have elicited a larger 
St Pan! preferred the . is : steady per- 
- those of " shement emotion. For impulse is 

Luxury. I do not say that good impulses 
not to be acted on, or that warm emotions are 
be cc k .'. ; they s - given :. facilitate I aae olem e j 
it is craite certain that they may cost very tittle. To 
largeb . : stri] t to give to a shivering 

man, to open your purse and richly guerdon a beggary 
: after .1. be nothing more than a relief from inipor- 
tnnil compact with conscience^ or a compromise 

with laziness. 

Now, on the contrary, this systematic plan of St. Paul's 
cos:? something, I :iies something. It teaches, first, 

thf bit ;:" thoughtful life; it reminds as continually 
there is something whicli is owed to God, and there- 
fore is aot our own. In this world we are recipients, the 
pensioners sue Father; audi: is well :. >y an out- 
svstemj should train our inward spirit to the 

v. -.-.; '.._.::"::". :i'.:v._i \: ;•: : •.::• :Ie' : :: Him. It is veil that 
e should remember this — not to wake our fear of EGs 



TO THE COBINTHIABS. 303 

austerity, but to kindle our gratitude in answer to His 
Love. 

It teaches, secondly, self-denial. It gradually lays the 
foundation of a life of Christian economy; not that which 
sacrifices one pleasure for another: for this is but mere 
prudence : but that which abridges pleasure, in order that 
-we may be able to give to God. 

2. The measure of liberality was, " as God hath pro- 
spered him." Observe, St. Paul establishes a principle 
here, and not a rule. He lays down no rabbinical maxim 
of one-tenth or one-fourth. He leaves the measure of 
each man's charity to his own conscience. Ask thyself, 
he says to each, " How much owest thou unto thy Lord?" 
Besides, a wide margin is here left necessarily for variety 
of circumstances. God prospers one man in fortune ; an- 
other man in time ; another, in talent ; and time, talents, 
power of government, knowledge, keen sympathy, are often 
better gifts than money. It is a false view which limits 
charity to almsgiving. " Silver and gold have I none," 
said St. Peter when the lame man asked an alms, "but 
that which I have I give unto thee ; " and the man was 
healed. So now, often the greatest exercise of charity is 
where there is nothing given, but where the deserving are 
assisted to support themselves. Often the highest charity is 
simply to pay liberally for all things had or done for you ; 
because to underpay workmen, and then be bountiful, is 
not charity. On the other hand, to give, when by so 
doing you support idleness, is most pernicious. No evil 
prevails so much, or is so sheltered under specious pre- 
texts, as the support of beggars. Yet you cannot refuse 
to give a street-alms if your charity has no other channel : 



304 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

you would feel that refusal in such a case was a mere pre- 
text to save your money. Bat if your wealth is wisely 
and systematically given, then the refusal of idle appeals 
does no harm to the heart. 

Now, the first principle laid down by St. Paul will 
explain why the second is not realized. Men do not 
give as God hath prospered them, because they do not 
give systematically; that is, they who have most are not 
they who give most, but the reverse. It is a fact, the 
more we have the less we give. Search the annals of 
all societies, and you will find that the large contribu- 
tions are given by those whose incomes are hundreds, and 
not thousands. Many are the touching cases known to 
all clergymen where the savings of a servant, a governess, 
a workman, have more than equalled the munificence of 
the rich. So, also, St. Paul's experience was : The grace 
of God, he says, was " bestowed on the churches of Mace- 
donia ; how that in a great trial of affliction the abundance 
of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the 
riches of their liberality. For to their power, I bear 
record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing 
of themselves." 

The reason of this strange difference is, that system is 
easier with little than with much. The man of thousands 
squanders. Indulgence after indulgence presents itself to 
him: every impulse is satisfied immediately: he denies 
himself nothing: he gives as freely when he is touched 
by a tale of woe, as he indulges when he wants indul- 
gence. But his luxuries and his extra expenditure grow 
into necessities, and he then complains of his larger liabi- 
lities and establishment. Yet, withal, it would be a start- 



TO TEE CORINTHIANS. 305 

ling tiling if well-meaning persons, who say they cannot 
give, were only to compute how much annually is spent in 
that mere waste which the slightest self-denial would have 
spared. 

Now let me appeal to those who really wish, in this thing, 
to do right. It is not my duty, from this chapter, to make 
a stirring appeal to your conscience, but simply to assist 
with advice that desire of liberality which is already 
existing, but which exists without expedients or plans of 
action. St. Paul's principle is the only safe or true one. 
Systematize your charity. Save, by surrendering super- 
fluities first. Feel that there is a sacred fund, which will 
be made less by every unnecessary expense. Let us learn 
Christian Economy first. Next we shall, by God's grace, 
learn Christian Self-denial. For the Corinthians gave not 
out of their abundance, but out of their deep poverty. 



306 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 



LECTURE XXXIII. 

1 Corinthians, xvi. 10-24. — "Now if Tmiotheus come, see that he may 
be with you without fear: for he worketh the work of the Lord, as I 
also do. — Let no man therefore despise him : but conduct him forth 
in peace, that he may come unto me : for I look for him with the 
brethren. — As touching our brother Apollos, I greatly desired him 
to come unto you with the brethren : but his will was not at all 
to come at this time ; but he will come when he shall have con- 
venient time. — Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, 
be strong. — Let all your things be done with charity. — I beseech 
you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the 
firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to 
the ministry of the saints,) — That ye submit yourselves unto such, 
and to every one that helpeth with us, and laboureth. — I am glad of 
the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus : for that 
which was lacking on your part they have supplied. — Lor they have 
refreshed my spirit and yours : therefore acknowledge ye them that 
are such. — The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla 
salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house. 
— All the brethren greet you. Greet ye one another with an holy 
kiss. — The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand. — If any man 
love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha. — 
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. — My love be with 
you all in Christ Jesus. Amen." 

To-day we close our exposition of the First Epistle to 
the Corinthians by gathering together the salutations 
which are contained in the conclusion. 

In going through this Epistle we cannot fail to have 
observed that it is altogether fragmentary. This was 
the natural result of its character, since it was a reply to 
various questions arising out of the peculiar state of the 
Corinthian Church. But the conclusion, as we might 



TO THE COEIXTHIAXS. 307 

expect, is even more fragmentary than the rest. It is 
simply made np of certain information respecting St. Paul's 
movements, certain salutations, certain personal memorials, 
and notices — and a brief reminder of the First Principles 
interspersed throughout the foregoing chapters. It will, 
therefore, be necessary for us in this place to connect them 
together as well as we can, not expecting to find any 
natural division to facilitate the making of a plan, or to 
assist the memory in combining this scattered Epistle into 
a whole. 

First, we notice the information given us respecting the 
Apostle's movements. Now we find him telling the Corin- 
thians that he hoped to visit them, and to winter with 
them, but not yet, for he was to stay at Ephesus until 
Pentecost. I only mention this, in order to call attention 
to the law of the Apostolic life. He remained there, he 
says, " for a great door and effectual is opened unto me, 
and there are many adversaries." So it was not pleasure 
but duty which kept him there. Ephesus was his post, 
and at Ephesus he would stay. Moreover, the very cir- 
cumstance which to many would have been an inducement 
to depart was with St. Paul a strong one to remain : there 
were " many adversaries," and he was there to take his 
part in danger. Now in order to understand the true 
martyr spirit, let us compare his behaviour in the nine- 
teenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, at the time of 
the public uproar, and his own strong expression, " If 
after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at 
Ephesus," in the fifteenth chapter of this Epistle, and 
we shall see at once that his feeling was : There is dano;er 
— well, then, I will stay. 

X 2 



308 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

Secondly, we make a remark respecting salutations 
generally. This Epistle lias many, but they are not so 
numerous as in that to the Romans. In both of them 
individuals are mentioned by name. It was no mere 
general assurance of attachment he gave them, but one 
of his personal knowledge and affection. 

1. Remark that, with St. Paul, personal considerations 
were not lost in general philanthropy: that because he 
entertained regard for the churches, and for bodies of men, 
he did not on this account ignore the individuals com- 
posing them. It is common enough to profess great in- 
terest and zeal for Humanity, whilst there is indifference 
all the time about individual men. It is common enough 
to be zealous about a cause, about some scheme of social 
good, and yet to be careless respecting individual welfare. 
But St. Paul's love was from Christ's own Spirit. It was 
love to the church generally, and besides, it was love to 
Aquila and Priscilla. And, is not this, too, the nature of 
God's Love, who provides for the Universe, and yet spends 
an infinity of care on the fibre of a leaf? 

2. Remark also the value of the courtesies of life. 
There are many minds which are indifferent to such 
things, and fancy themselves above them. It is a profound 
remark of Prescott's, that " liberty is dependent upon 
forms." Did not the slow, solemn change in the English 
constitution, and our freedom from violent subversions, 
arise from the almost superstitious way in which precedent 
has been consulted in the manner of every change? 
But what is of more importance to remember is, that 
love is dependent upon forms — courtesy of etiquette 
guards and protects courtesy of heart. How many hearts 



TO THE COHINTHIAXS. 309 

have been lost irrecoverably, and bow many averted eves 
and cold looks have been gained from what seemed perhaps 
but a trifling negligence of forms ! 

CD O O 

There are three persons chiefly in reference to whom 
these personal notices are made — Timothy, Apollos, and 
the household of Stephanas. 

I. In the tenth verse — " If Timotheus come, see that 
he may be with you without fear: for he worketh the 
work of the Lord as I also do " — he bespeaks respect 
for him, official respect, and personal consideration. It 
is chiefly on this personal consideration that I wish to 
dwell. " Let him be without fear — let no man despise 
him." Now consider the circumstances in which Timothy 
was placed. He was young in years and he was a re- 
cent convert to Christianity. He lived in a day when 
the Christian profession was despised and persecuted. 
There was much to make him "fear." 'He — a young 
teacher — was coining to a city where gifts were unduly 
and idolatrously reverenced, and where even the autho- 
rity of one like St. Paul was liable to be treated lightly 
if lie did not possess the gifts and graces of Attic oratory. 
There must, therefore, have been much to make it likely 
that he would be despised. Think how, without a friend 
like St. Paul to throw his mantle over him, Timothy's 
own modesty would have silenced him, and how his 
young enthusiasm might have been withered by ridicule 
or asperity ! 

In this light, St. Paul's pleading is an encouragement of 
goodness while yet in its tender bud. From this instance 
we are enabled to draw a lesson for all ages. There is 
a danger of our paralyzing young enthusiasm by cold- 



310 LECTURES ON TEE EPISTLES 

ness, by severity, by sneers, by want of sympathy. There 
are few periods in life more critical than that in which 
sensibilities and strong feeling begin to develop themselves 
in young people. The question is about to be decided 
whether what is at present merely romantic feeling is to 
become generous devotion, and to end by maturing into 
self-denial, or whether it is to remain only a sickly senti- 
ment, and, by reaction, degenerate into a bitter and a sneer- 
ing tone. And there are, perhaps, few countries in which 
this danger is so great, and so much to be guarded against, 
as here in England. Nowhere is feelino; met with so little 
sympathy as here — nowhere is enthusiasm so much kept 
down — nowhere do young persons learn so soon the 
fashionable tone of strongly admiring nothing — wondering 
at nothing — reverencing nothing — and nowhere does a 
young man so easily fall into the habit of laughing at his 
own best and purest feelings. And this was a danger 
which the Apostle Paul knew well, and could not over- 
look. He foresaw the risk of paralyzing that young and 
beautiful enthusiasm of Timothy by the party spirit of 
Corinth, by the fear of the world's laugh, or by the recoil 
with which a young man, dreading to be despised, hides 
what is best and noblest in himself, and consequently be- 
comes hard and commonplace. In earlier days, Apollos 
himself ran the same risk. He set out preaching all the 
truth that he knew enthusiastically. It was very poor 
truth, lamentably incomplete, embracing only John's bap- 
tism, that is, the doctrine which John taught. Had the 
Christians met him with sneers, had they said, "This 
young upstart does not preach the Gospel," there had been 
either a great teacher blighted, or else a strong mind 



TO TEE COMS THIAXS. 311 

embittered into defiance and heresy. But from this he was 
delivered by the love and prudence of Aquila and Pris- 
cilla, who, we read, (< took him unto them, and expounded 
unto him the way of God more perfectly." They made 
allowances : they did not laugh at his imperfections, nor 
damp his enthusiasm : they united him with themselves : 
they strengthened what was weak — they lopped away what 
was luxuriant : they directed rightly what was ener- 
getic. Happy the man who has been true to the ideal of 
his youth, and has been strong enough to work out in real 
life the plan which pleased his childish thought ! Happy 
he who is not ashamed of his first enthusiasm, but looks 
back to it with natural piety, as to the parent of what he 
now is ! But for one of whom this is true — how many are 
there whom the experience of life has soured and ren- 
dered commonplace ! How many, who were once touched 
by the sunlight of Hope, have grown cold, settled down 
into selfishness, or have become mere domestic men, stifled 
in wealth or lost in pleasure ! 

Above all things, therefore, let us beware of that cold, 
supercilious tone, which blights what is generous, and 
affects to disbelieve all that is disinterested and unworldly. 
Let us guard against the esprit moqueur — the Mephis- 
topheles spirit, which loves and reverences nothing. 

II. " As touching our brother Apollos, I greatly desired 
him to come unto you with the brethren: but his will was 
not at all to come at this time ; but he will come when 
he shall have convenient time." Upon this I will make 
two remarks : 

1. The perfect absence of all mean jealousy in St. Paul's 
mind. Compare this passage with his earnest rebuke of 



312 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

the party of Apollos in the first chapter. On reading that, 
it might appear natural to say, " Oh, he cannot bear a 
rival!" But, behold, it was zeal for Christ, and not 
jealousy of Apollos. With Apollos he felt only hearty 
fellowship, for he greatly " desired him to come to them 
with the brethren." These are some of the fine touches 
by which we learn what that sublime Apostle was, and 
what the grace of God had made him. Here again we 
see another advantage of our expository course, enabling 
us to trace and note down many delicate touches of cha- 
racter that might otherwise easily be passed over. 

2. Let us pause to admire the Apostle's earnest desire 
to make Apollos stand well with the Corinthians. A 
meaner spirit, feeling that Apollos was a dangerous rival, 
would either have left his conduct unexplained, or would 
have caught at, and been even glad of the suspicion 
resting on him : why did he stay away ? But St. Paul 
would leave no misunderstanding to smoulder. He simply 
stated that Apollos had reasons for not coming : " but he 
will come." This is magnanimity and true delicacy of 
heart. 

III. The house of Stephanas : " Ye know the house of 
Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that 
they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the 
saints." St. Paul tells them, in the next verse, to " submit 
themselves unto such" — to respect them. See, then, what 
Christianity is — Equality : yes, but not levelling. God's 
universe is built on subordination : so is God's church. 
The spirit of the world's liberty says, " Let no man lord 
it over you ;" but the spirit of the Gospel liberty says, 
" Submit yourselves one to another," Observe, however, 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 313 

another thing : they had addicted themselves to the minis- 
try. Who had called them to it? No one, except God 
by an inward fitness. Yet, knowing this, St. Paul says, 
6i Submit yourselves." There are certain things to be 
done in this world which require peculiar instruments 
and peculiar qualifications. A call from God to do such 
a work is often shown by a willingness to do it : a readi- 
ness to stand forward and take the lead. When this is the 
case, and such men try to do good, they are often met with 
innumerable hindrances. Take as instances, Howard and 
Mrs. Fry, who encountered nothing but difficulties ; they 
were thwarted in all they undertook, and hindered on 
every side. 

Now, St. Paul says, this is wrong; you ought rather to 
help such. Let them take the lead — follow in their wake, 
and do not mar the work by any petty jealousy. " Submit 
yourselves rather unto such, and to every one that helpeth 
with us, and laboureth." Observe, then, it is as much an 
apostolic duty to obey persons who have " addicted them- 
selves" from inward fitness, as it is to respect an outward 
constitutional authority. 

Lastly, the Epistle concludes with the repetition of a few 
Pirst Principles. As the postscript often contains the gist 
of a letter — the last earnest thought, the result of a strong 
effort at recollection in order to leave nothing important 
unsaid — so we may here expect to find gathered to a point 
some of the essential principles of Christianity as a parting 
request. 

Accordingly, we find the Apostle, in the thirteenth 
verse, saying, " Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit 
you like men, be strong," — by which he enforces the duty 



314 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

of Manliness. In the fourteenth verse, " Let all your 
things be done with charity." The Apostle's incessant 
exhortation to Love is again pressed upon them in the 
most comprehensive form. And in the twenty-second 
verse, "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let 
him be Anathema Maran-atha." By which the rule of 
Sympathy, and that of antipathy is pointed out. Respect- 
ing the first of these, I address young men — 

If you think Christianity a feeble, soft thing, ill adapted 
to call out the manlier features of character, read here, 
" Quit you like men." Remember, too, " He that ruleth 
his spirit is greater than he that taketh a city." He who 
conquers passion in its might is every inch a man ! Say 
what you will, the Christian conqueror is the only one who 
deserves the name. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 315 



LECTURE XXXIY. 

July 11, 1852. 

2 Corinthians, i. 1-14.—" Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will 
of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at 
Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia:— Grace be to 
you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus 
Christ. — Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; — Who com- 
forteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort 
them which are in any trouble by the comfort, wherewith we our- 
selves are comforted of God. — For as the sufferings of Christ abound 
in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. — And whether 
we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is 
effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also 
suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and 
salvation. — And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye 
are partakers of thp sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consola- 
tion. — For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble 
which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, 
above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life : — But 
we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not 
trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: — Who deli- 
vereth us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust 
that he will yet deliver us; — Ye also helping together by prayer for 
us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons 
thanks may be given by many on our behalf. — For our rejoicing is 
this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly 
sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have 
had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward. 
— For we write none other things unto you, than what ye read or 
acknowledge; and I trust ye shall acknowledge even to the end; — 
As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, 
even as ye also are our's in the day of the Lord Jesus." 

The character of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians 
differs considerably from that of the First. In the former 
Epistle, a variety of separate questions are discussed; some 



316 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

relating to doctrine — for example, the Resurrection; others 
to moral conduct, as concerning the incestuous Corinthian ; 
others respecting ceremonies ; others of casuistry^ as the 
eating of meats offered to idols ; and others regarding 
order in the Church, as, for example, the investigation of 
the value of spiritual gifts. To all these St. Paul replies, 
hy referring each particular question back to some broad 
principle of Christianity. 

But in the Second Epistle a more personal tone is observ- 
able. It seems that certain charges had been alleged against 
him, probably in consequence of the severe and uncom- 
promising way in which he had blamed their divisions and 
their sectarian spirit ; and now, instead of being blamed 
by one party, he found himself accused by all. They had 
charged him with harshness to the incestuous person, with 
fickleness, with arrogance in his ministry; they said he 
had assumed a tone of authority which ill became him, 
and which was not consistent with the insignificance of 
his personal appearance. Accordingly, we notice that a 
very peculiar tone pervades this Epistle. It is the lan- 
guage of injured, and yet most affectionate, expostulation. 
One by one he refutes all the charges ; one by one he 
calmly sets them aside: and yet you cannot read the Epistle 
without perceiving that, with all the firm manliness of his 
character, he had been wounded to the very quick. But 
not one word of resentment falls from his pen, only 
once or twice sentences of affectionate bitterness, as, for 
example : " For what is it wherein you were inferior to 
other churches, except it be that I myself was not burden- 
some to you ? forgive me this wrong." 

Our exposition to-day will embrace the first fourteen 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 317 

verses ; and these divide themselves generally into two 
subjects of consideration. 

I. The consolations of Affliction. 
II. The testimony of Conscience. 

I. Now the very terms of this division show the personal 
tone of the Epistle. His own afflictions, his own conscience 
— these are the subjects. We shall see the difference we 
spoke of by comparing these verses with the fourth, fifth, 
and sixth verses of the first chapter of the First Epistle. 
Tliere he thanks God for their grace, their gifts, the testi- 
mony of Christ in them; while here we evidently feel the 
heart of the Apostle himself smarting under the sense of 
injustice and misconception — the want of fair treatment 
and of sympathy. Very naturally, therefore, he turns to 
the consolations of Suffering, and what Suffering means. 
It is the great question of thoughtful spirits, not merely, 
How can affliction be got rid of as soon as possible ? — but, 
rather, Why is it? what does it mean? This is the subject 
of the wondrous Book of Job : from this are born the first 
earnest questionings of religion in all hearts, and in all ages. 
The Apostle then represents Affliction — 

1. As a school of comfort, v. 4, 5. 

2. As a school of assurance, v. 10. 

3. And as a school of sympathy, v. 4. 

1. As a school of comfort. 

Affliction and comfort — a remarkable connexion of two 
apparent opposites, and yet how indissoluble ! For hea- 
venly comfort — heavenly, as distinguished from mere 
earthly gladness and earthly happiness — is inseparable 
from sufferino;. It was so in the Life of Christ ; it was im- 



318 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

mediately after the temptation that angels came and minis- 
tered to Him : it was in His agony that the angel appeared 
from heaven strengthening Him : it was in the preparation 
for the Cross that the Voice was heard, "I have both glori- 
fied it and will glorify it again ;" and it was on the Cross 
that the depth of Human loneliness, and the exceeding 
bitter cry, were changed for the trustful calm of a Spirit 
fulfilled with His Father's love : " Father, into thy hands 
I commend my spirit." And as in His life, so it is in ours, 
these two are never separated, for the first earnest ques- 
tions of personal and deep religion are ever born out of 
personal suffering. As if God had said : {( In the sun- 
shine thou canst not see Me ; but when the sun is with- 
drawn the stars of heaven shall appear." As with Job : 
" Not in prosperity, but in the whirlwind will I answer 
thee; there thou shalt hear my Voice, and see my Form, 
and know that thy Redeemer liveth." 

2. A school of assurance. 

There is nothing so hard to force upon the soul as the 
conviction that life is a real, earnest, awful thing. Only 
see the butterfly life of pleasure men and women are living 
day by day, hour by hour, flitting from one enjoyment 
to another; living, working, spending, and exhausting 
themselves for nothing else but the seen, and temporal, and 
unreal. And yet these are undying souls, with feelings 
and faculties which death cannot rob them of; their chance 
swiftly passing, and no second chance for ever ! Now pain 
and sorrow force upon the spirit the feeling of reality. 

And again : nothing is harder than to believe in God. 
To do just this — simply to believe in God — in the history of 
each individual soul, there is no page so difficult to learn as 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 319 

that. When you are well,, when hours are pleasant and 
friends abundant, it is an easy thing to speculate about 
God, to argue about the Trinity, to discuss the Atonement, 
to measure the mysteries of Existence. Christian men ! 
when sorrow comes, speculation will not do. It is like 
casting the lead from mere curiosity, when you have a 
sound strong ship in deep water. But when she is grind- 
ins on the rocks ! Oh ! we sound for God when the soul 
is on the rocks. For God becomes a living God, a Reality, 
a Home, when once we feel that we are helpless and home- 
less in this world without Him. 
3. A school of sympathy. 

There are some who are Christians, but notwithstanding 
are rough, hard, and rude: you cannot go to them for 
sympathy. You cannot confide the more delicate diffi- 
culties of the soul to them. Theirs is that rude health 
which knows not of infirmities: theirs is that strong sound 
sense which cannot see how a doubt can enter the spirit 
and make it dark; nay, cannot understand why there 
should be a doubt at all. They have not suffered. But 
tenderness is got by suffering, both physical and mental. 
This was Christ's own qualification for sympathy : " We 
have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the 
feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted 
like as we are." So that, would you be a Barnabas ? 
would you give something beyond commonplace conso- 
lation to a wounded spirit? would you minister to doubt, 
to disappointed affection, to the loneliness of life ? — then 
" you must suffer being tempted." Now, here we have a 
very peculiar source of consolation in suffering. It is the 
same which we spoke of in the First Epistle, when the 



320 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

subject of the contribution for the poor of Jerusalem 
came before us. Their suffering had taught many lessons 
to the Christians of Corinth and Galatia, had linked the 
Gentile churches together in a common cause, had uncon- 
sciously drawn out sympathy and self-denial, and had 
kindled into a living flame the apostolical energies of 
St. Paul. So here : the thought that the Apostle's suffer- 
ing benefited others soothed him in his afflictions; and 
this is quite a peculiar consolation — one, too, which is 
essentially Christian. Thus we see that Christianity is the 
true philosophy, after all. Consider only how moralists, 
how the old Stoicism had groped about in the dark to 
solve the mystery of pain and grief; telling you it must 
be, that it is the common lot, and, therefore, to be borne ; 
that it benefits and perfects you. 

Yes, that is true enough. But Christianity says much 
more to you: it says, Your suffering blesses others: it 
teaches you sympathy ; it gives them firmness, and ex- 
ample, and reminds them of their frailty. How high a 
truth ! for here is the law of the Cross : " No man dieth 
to himself;" for his pain and loss is for others, and uncon- 
sciously to himself brings with it to others, joy and gain. 

II. The testimony of conscience. 

Met by these charges from his enemies, and even 
from his friends, the Apostle falls back on his own con- 
science. Let us explain what he means by the testimony 
of conscience. He certainly does not mean faultlessness ; 
for he says, " Of sinners I am chief." And St. John, 
in a similar spirit, declares that none can boast of 
faultlessness : " If we say that we have no sin, we 
deceive ourselves." And here St. Paul is not speaking 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 321 

of his own personal character, but of his ministry ; and, 
again, he is not speaking of the blamelessness of his ministry, 
but of its success. No : it was not faultlessness St. Paul 
meant by the testimony of conscience, but this — integrity, 
moral earnestness in his work; he had been straightforward 
in his ministry, and his worst enemies could be refuted if 
they said that he was insincere. 

1. Now this sincerity excluded, first, all subtle manoeu- 
vring, all indirect modes of teaching. The Corinthians 
said he had caught them with guile. He said he had not : 
there had been no concealment of views, no doctrine of 
reserve, no Jesuistry, nor subtlety of reasoning in all his 
teaching : his conscience told him that. Yet many would 
have thought this subtlety the best mode of dealing with the 
bigoted Jews, and the intricate and versatile Greek intellect. 
St. Paul might have said : "These views about the Sabbath 
will offend the Jews ; these declarations of the Christ cru- 
cified will be unpleasant to the Greeks." Instead of which, 
in simplicity and godly sincerity, St. Paul preached the 
Cross. And in this, let men say what they please, the 
Apostle was true to the nature of men. One of the keenest 
of Eastern diplomatists has left it on record that subtlety 
fails in India ; that there manoeuvring politicians have ever 
been those who were most easily outwitted. For none suc- 
ceed like the straightforward, blunt, simple Englishman, 
sailor or soldier, as long as he is simple. Be sure that 
straightforwardness is more than a match at last for all 
the involved windings of deceit. In your daily life, do 
what you feel right, say what you feel true, and leave, with 
faith and boldness, the consequences to God. Force men to 
feel of you, " Yes, he has faults, but they lie on the surface ; 

T 



322 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

lie may be impetuous, hasty, mistaken, but what he says 
he thinks; there is no arriere pensee, no acting in his 
character with a view to personal interests." 

2. St. Paul's sincerity excluded all teaching upon the 
ground of mere authority. It is commonly taught that 
this or that truth is to be believed because an inspired 
Apostle taught it. It is often said, It is incredible, never- 
theless you must believe it, because it was accredited by 
miracles. But the Apostle never taught on this ground. 
Nay, even Christ Himself in all His ministry did not teach 
any doctrine on the ground of authority. He simply said : 
"If I say the truth, why do ye not believe?" "They 
that are of the truth hear my voice :" " Wisdom is justified 
of her children." In the same way spoke St. Paul. The 
truth he had taught commended itself to their consciences : 
and so, too, throughout all his instruction, he says, M If 
our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost." And 
again : (i We use great plainness of speech." 

This was the secret of the Apostle's wondrous power. 
It was because he had used no adroitness nor craft, nor any 
threat of authority, but stood simply on the Truth, evident 
like the sunlight to all who had eyes to see, that thousands, 
go where he would, " acknowledged" what he taught. 
There are some men who thus interpret us to ourselves, 
who make us more really ourselves, from whose writings 
and words we feel a flash which kindles all into light at 
once. Of the words of such men we do not say, " How 
can that be proved ? " We say, fe It is the truth of God, 
and needs no proof." And such is our feeling as we read 
the Word of Inspiration, 



TO THE CORINTHIAXS. 323 



LECTURE XXXV. 

July 18, IS 52. 

2 Corinthians, i. 15-22. — " And in this confidence I was minded to come 
unto you before, that ye might have a second benefit ; — And to pass by 
you into Macedonia, and to come again out of Macedonia unto you, 
and of you to be brought on my way toward Judaea. — When I there- 
fore was thus minded, did I use lightness ? or the things that I pur- 
pose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should 
be yea yea, and nay nay ? — But as God is true, our word toward you 
was not yea and nay. — For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was 
preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, 
was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. — For all the promises of 
God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. 
— Xow he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed 
us, is God ; — Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the 
Spirit in our hearts." 

The whole tone of this Epistle is apologetical — it is defen- 
sive throughout. In other Epistles, the main subject being 
some Christian truth or truths, it is only incidentally that 
we ever learn anything respecting St. Paul himself. But 
in this, the main subject is St. Paul and St. Paul's conduct; 
and yet from chapter to chapter he digresses from his own 
conduct to some great principle which was dearer far to 
him than himself. Of course, generally, the value of this 
Epistle is extremely great. But its special value consists 
in two things : — 

1. It exhibits the way in which a Christian may defend 
himself when maligned or misrepresented. No doubt it 
is very true that in the end character will clear itself; and 

T 2 



324 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

a popular phrase says, with some truth, that the character 
which cannot defend itself is best left without defence. Yet 
this may be pressed too far. An uncontradicted slander 
is believed readily, and often for long; and, meanwhile, 
influence is crippled or lost. Conceive what might have 
ensued, had St. Paul not met the slanders against his 
character with denial at once ! For few persons take the 
trouble to sift a charge which is not denied. Now, in the 
exposition of this Epistle, our attention (inter alia) will be 
frequently directed to the tone and manner in which the 
inspired Apostle defends himself. 

2. This Epistle is valuable as peculiarly forcing our 
attention to the fact of the humility of St. Paul. In 
remembering the inspiration of the Apostles, we sometimes 
forget that they felt, thought, and wrote as men — that the 
Holy Ghost spoke through them, mixing the Divine with 
the human — that inspiration flowed through roused human 
feelings and passions. Hence there is a peculiar value 
in an Epistle whose main character is personal. 

The link of connection between the subject of last 
Sunday and that of to-day is to be found in the twelfth 
and thirteenth verses, in which the Apostle maintains the 
openness and straightforwardness of his ministry. He had 
concealed nothing, he had used no reserve or duplicity. 
Nor had he taught truth to them on the mere ground of 
authority, but as truth, — that which was clear and self- 
evident when declared; that which they received and 
acknowledged. 

Next he comes to a particular defence against a charge 
of failure of promise. The charge against him was one of 
duplicity or ^double-dealing, and this both in his public 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 325 

teaching, and also in his personal intercourse. His defence 
on the first count of the charge we have already dealt 
with. We come to-day to the charge as respects his per- 
sonal deportment towards the Corinthians. He was, they 
said, a man who would teach plausibly, meaning some- 
thing else all the while ; all was not said out boldly by 
him. He was a man who would make a promise for a 
momentary purpose, and then break it for his own pri- 
vate ends. The alleged proof on which the charge was 
founded was, that he had promised to come to Corinth, 
and he had not come. The Apostle's reply includes a 
general defence against a general charge: and a defence 
of the particular case of apparent insincerity. He admits 
the fact, — he had intended to go to Corinth: and he had 
not fulfilled his intention. But he denies the inference of 
trifling with his word ; or that it was with him " yea yea" 
— and then, with a juggler's dexterity, "nay nay." 

The broad ground on which St. Paul denies the possi- 
bility of such conduct is, that he was a spiritual Christian. 
He could not do so, because it would be acting accord- 
ing to the flesh, that is, from interest, ambition, worldly 
policy, or private passions. Whereas he was hi Christ ; and 
Christ was the Christian's yea, the Living Truth ; and the 
word is but the expression of the life. Now what Christ 
was, the Christian is, in degree. Christ, says St. Paul, 
was true ; and God has established us in Christ. There- 
fore fickleness, duplicity, or deceit, is impossible to us. 

Such is the Apostle's argument. Let us notice how, even 
in apparent trifles, St. Paul fell back on main principles : 
" The Gospel goes into the life : Christ is yea, therefore 
be ye true." So, in another place: "Lie not one to 



326 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

another, seeing that ye have pnt off the old man with his 
deeds." He does not teach veracity as a separate virtue, 
but veracity as springing out of Christianity — a part of 
truth; to be veracious was simply the result of a true 
life: the life being true, the words and sentiments must 
be veracious. 

Let us also see why " being in Christ" makes caprice and 
instability impossible. Consider what caprice is — it comes 
from not knowing one's own mind. A fickle-minded man's 
inner being is like an undisciplined mob — first one voice of 
passion, then another is heard — of interest, of ambition, or 
policy. " A double-minded man," says St. James, K is 
unstable in all his ways ; " " he that wavereth is like a 
wave of the sea." i\.nd we read in Genesis : " Unstable as 
water, thou shalt not excel." A man who is governed by 
self, whose desires are legion, u purposes according to the 
flesh," and his yea is nay as often as yea, Now, what is 
the Gospel of Christ ? What is it to be K established in 
Christ" — es anointed?" It is freedom from self, from all 
selfish and personal wishes. It is to say, " Not as I will, 
but as Thou wilt :" it is to place the right uppermost, 
and not pleasure. It is to be delivered from those pas- 
sions whose name is Leo-ion, and to ({ sit at the feet of 
Jesus, clothed and in our right mind." Hence a blow is 
struck at once at the root of instability. It is as if a ship 
tossed about by a hundred gusts of whirlwind were to feel 
suddenly a strong breeze blowing from one point, and at 
once to right and go steadily before the wind. 

A man who is free from the manifold motives of self-will 
moves like the sun — steady, majestic, with no variableness, 
neither shadow of turning:. His course can be calcu- 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 327 

lated. You cannot calculate the quarter from whence the 
wind will blow to-morrow, but you can calculate the pre- 
cise moment when the sun will reach a particular point. 
Such is the description of a Christian. St. Paul was a 
Christian : therefore he could not be tricky, or manoeuvre, 
or do underhand things : the Spirit of Christ was in his 
heart. Observe, too, that he does not assert his truth 
because of his Apostleship, but because of his Christianity ; 
— for he associates the Corinthians with himself — w us with 
you." 

But we ! — we ! — how does this describe us ? — changeful, 
vacillating, many of us tempted to subterfuges, unsteadi- 
ness, even to insincerity? Well, it is the portrait of a 
Christian ; and, so far as it does not describe us, we are 
not Christians, we have not the Spirit — so far we need that 
Spirit to redeem us from self. For it is redemption in 
Christ from self, and that alone, which can make us true. 

Let us note two things here, by the way : — 

1. Remember that the Apostle calls this truthfulness — 
this gift of the Spirit — " God's seal" marking His own, and 
an " earnest." The true are His ; none else. 

Let us distinguish between an "earnest" and a "pledge." 
A " pledge " is something different in kind, given in assur- 
ance of something else, as when Judah gave his staff and 
ring in pledge for a lamb which he promised should be 
given afterwards. But an " earnest " is part of that thing 
which is eventually to be given ; as when the grapes were 
brought from Canaan, or as when a purchase is made, 
and part of the money is paid down at once. 

Now Baptism is a pledge of Heaven — " a sign and seal." 
The Spirit of Truth in us is an earnest of Heaven, it is 



328 LECTURES ON THE EHSTLES 

Heaven begun. Therefore, it is a foolish question to ask, 
Will the true, pure, loving, holy man be saved ? He is 
saved; he has Heaven: it is in him now — an earnest of 
more hereafter ; God has shown him the grapes of Canaan ; 
God has given him part of the inheritance, all of which is 
hereafter to be his own. 

2. The solemn character of the relationship between 
ministers and congregations, — ver. 14. 



TO THE COEIXTHIANS. 329 



LECTURE XXXVI. 

July 25, 1S52. 

2 Corinthians, i. 23, 24. — ''Moreover I call God for a record upon 
ray soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth. — Xot ior 
that we have dominion over your faith, hut are helpers of your joy: 
for hy faith ye stand." 

2 Corinthians, ii. 1-5. — " But I determined this -with myself, that I 
would not come again to you in heaviness. — For if I make you sorry, 
who is he then that maketh me glad, hut the same which is made 
sorry by me? — And I wrote this same unto you, lest, when I came, I 
should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having 
confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all. — For out of 
much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many 
tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the 
love which I have more abundantly unto you. — But if any have caused 
grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part : that I may not overcharge 
you all." 

"We have seen that a double charo-e had been alleged 
against St. Paul — of duplicity both as respected his 
ministry, and also as respected his personal character. 
The charge against his personal character had been based 
on the non-fulfilment of his promise to visit Corinth : and 
we found his defence was twofold : — 

1. General — resting on the moral impossibility of one in 
Christ being wilfully untrue ; and this was our subject last 
Sunday. 

2. Special — and this is our business to-day. This part 
of the defence extends from the twenty-third verse of the 
first chapter to the fifth verse of the second. 

The first reason for the non-fulfilment of his promise was 



330 EECTEEES OX THE EPISTLES 

one of mercy : " Moreover. I call God for a record upon 
my soul, that to spare you. I came not as yet unto Corinth." 
By '•' spare " the Apostle means — to save them from the 
sharp censure their lax morality would have necessitated. 
They had treated this great crime which had been com- 
mitted amongst them as a trifle : they had even boasted 
of it as a proof of their Christian liberty : and had 
Sr. Paul gone to Corinth while they were unrepentant, 
his apostolic duty would have required from him severe 
animadversion. Now it was to spare them this that he 
changed his intention. It was no caprice, no fickleness, 
it was simply tenderness to them : by which we learn two 
things respecting St. Paul's character. 

1. He was not one of those who love to be censors of 
the faults of others. There are some who are ever finding 
fault : a certain appearance of superiority is thereby 
gained, for blame implies the power oi scanning from a 
height. There are political faultfinders who lament over 
the evil of the times, and demagogues who blame every 
power that is. There are ecclesiastical faultfinders who can 
see no good anywhere in the Church, they can only expose 
abuses. There are social faultfinders,, who are ever on the 
watch for error, who complain of cant and shams, and who 
yet provide no remedy. There are religious faultfinders 
who lecture the poor, or form themselves into associations, 
in which they rival the inquisitors of old. Xow all this was 
contrary to the spirit of St. Paul. Charity with him was 
not a fine word: it was a part of his very being: he had 
that love " which thinketh no evil, which re'oiceth not in 
iniquity, but in the truth, which beareth, believeth, hopeth 
all things." It pained him to inflict the censure which 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 331 

would give pain to others : i{ to spare you I came not a3 
vet unto Corinth." 

2. St. Paul was not one of those who love to rule : 
u Not for that we have dominion over your faith." He 
had nothing within him of the mere Priest. 

Let us draw a difference between the priest and the 
minister. Both are anxious for men's salvation, but the 
priest wishes to save them by his own official powers 
and prerogatives ; while the minister wishes to help them 
to save themselves. Now see how exactly this verse 
expresses the distinction between these two spirits : {< Do- 
minion over your faith : " there is the very spirit of the 
Priest. u Helpers of your joy:" there is the spirit of the 
Minister ; a desire, not to be a ruler, but a helper; not 
that he shall hold men up, but that they shall " stand." 

This is the great quarrel between Paganism and Chris- 
tianity, between Romanism and Protestantism, between the 
proud pretensions of mere Churchmanship and spiritual 
Christianity. How are men saved? Directly through 
Christ? or indirectly by Christ through the priest? — by 
personal faith? or by the miraculous instrumentality of the 
sacraments ? What is the Christian minister ? Is he one 
whose manipulations and meddling are necessary to make 
faith and moral goodness acceptable, and to impart to them 
a spiritual efficacy ? or is he simply one whose office is to 
serve his brethren, by giving to them such superior know- 
ledge as he may possess, or such superior influence as his 
character may command ? The Apostle's decision here is 
plain ; and it is marvellous how any can read his writings, 
and support the " priestly view." 

But do not mistake the meaning of the word "priest;" 



332 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES 

as used by the Church of England it is simply a cor- 
rupted form of presbyter. In her formularies she does 
not claim sacrificial or priestly powers for her officers, 
but only ministerial ones. Observe, therefore, it is not a 
question of words, but of things : Priestcraft is a spirit, 
a temper of mind ; and does not depend upon a name. It 
is not because a man is called a priest, that therefore he is 
unlike St. Paul ; nor because a man is named a minister, 
that therefore he is free from the priestly temper. In 
Rome, where all are called priests, you have had the 
humble, servant-like spirit of mauy a Fenelon. Among 
Dissenters, where the word "priest" is strenuously avoided, 
there has been many a proud, priestly spirit, domineering 
and overbearing. Such men are willing — nay, zealous — 
that others should be saved, provided it is only through 
them ; and hence their estimate of goodness in others is a 
peculiar one. Those who accept their teaching, and admit 
their authority, they call humble, meek, Christlike. Those 
who dare to doubt, who seek Truth for themselves, not 
blindly their truth, they call latitudinarians, proud, heretics, 
presumptuous, and self-willed. Thus the priestly estimate 
of saintliness is always a peculiar one, since the main 
element of it is obedience and submission, and a blind 
subservience to individual teaching. Besides, these men 
are always persecutors : the assumption of dominion over 
men's faith necessarily makes them so, although in different 
ways. In some ages they burn, in others curse, in others 
they affix stigmas and names on their fellow ministers, 
and bid people beware of them as dangerous teachers. 
Now I give you a criterion : Whenever you find a man 
trying to believe, and to make others believe, himself 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 333 

to be necessary to their salvation and progress, saying, 
" Except ye be circumcised, except ye believe what I 
teach, or except I baptize yon, ye cannot be saved," there 
you have a priest, whether he be called minister, clergy- 
man, or layman. But whenever you find a man anxious 
and striving to make men independent of himself, yea, in- 
dependent of all men ; desiring to help them — not to rest 
on his authority, but — to stand on their own faith, not his ; 
that they may be elevated, instructed, and educated ; wish- 
ing for the blessed time to come when his services shall be 
unnecessary, and the prophecy be fulfilled — " They shall no 
more teach every man his brother, saying, Know ye the 
Lord; for all shall know Him from the least to the greatest," 
— there you have the Christian minister, the servant, the 
" helper of your joy." 

The second reason St. Paul alleges for not coming to 
Corinth is apparently a selfish one : to spare himself pain 
And he distinctly says, he had written to pain them, in 
order that he might have joy. Very selfish, as at first it 
sounds : but if we look closely into it, it only sheds a 
brighter and fresher light upon the exquisite unselfishness 
and delicacy of St. Paul's character. Pie desired to save 
himself pain, because it gave them pain. He desired joy 
for himself, because his joy was theirs. He will not separate 
himself from them for a moment : he will not be the 
master, and they the school : it is not I and you, but we ; 
(i my joy is your joy, as your grief was my grief." And 
so knit together are we beloved, — minister and congre- 
gation ! 

Here it is best to explain the fifth verse, which in our 
version is badly punctuated. If we read it thus, it is 



334 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

clear : " If any have caused grief lie hath not grieved one, 
but in part (that I may not overcharge) you all." 

To resume : — It was not to pain them merely, that he 
wrote, but because joy, deep and permanent, was impos- 
sible without pain; as the extraction of a thorn by a tender 
father gives a deeper joy in love to the child. It was 
not to inflict sorrow, ie not that ye should be grieved, but 
that ye might know the love which I have more abun- 
dantly unto you." Again, it was not to save himself pain 
merely, that he did not come, but to save them that pain 
which would have given him pain. Here there is a canon 
for the difficult duty and right, of blame. When, — to what 
extent, — how, — shall we discharge that difficult duty, so 
rarely done with gracefulness ? To blame is easy enough, 
with some it is all of a piece with the hardness of their 
temperament; but to do this delicately — how shall we learn 
that ? I answer, Love ! and then say what you will ; men 
will bear anything if love be there. If not, all blame, 
however just, will miss its mark; and St. Paul showed this 
in the fourth verse, where love lies at the root of his 
censure. Nothing but love can teach us how to understand 
such a sentence as this from a higher Heart than his — 
" He looked round about Him in anger, being grieved at 
the hardness of their hearts." 

Here, too, arises an occasion for considering the 
close connection between ministers and congregations. 
Let us compare the fourteenth verse of the first chapter 
— "We are your rejoicing, even as ye also are our's in 
the day of the Lord Jesus " — with the third verse of the 
second chapter — iC Having confidence in you all that my 
joy is the joy of you all " — and what a lesson of comfort 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 335 

shall we not learn ! But no doubt much mistake is made 
in representing the case of ministers now as parallel to 
that of the Apostles, and claiming, as is sometimes done, 
the same reverence for their words as the Apostles claimed 
rightfully for themselves. Much mistake, too, is made in 
drawing the parallel, or expecting it in the mutual affec- 
tion of ministers and people. For gifts differ, and more 
than all, circumstances of trial differ ; and it is only when 
dangers are undergone together, like those of the Apostles, 
that the cases can be parallel. Doubtless, in the early 
Church, and among the persecuted Covenanters, similar 
instances have occurred, but rarely do they happen in 
prosperous times. 

Yet let me call attention to one point, in which the con- 
nection is equally solemn. I waive the question of personal 
affection and private influence. In the public ministry of 
a Church, week by week, a congregation listens to one 
man's teaching ; year by year, a solemn connection is thus 
formed ; for so, thoughts are infused, perforce absorbed. 
They grow in silence, vegetate, and bear fruit in the life 
and practice of the congregation; and a minister may even 
trace his modes of thinking in his people's conversation — 
not as mere phrases learnt by rote, but as living seed which 
has germinated in them. A very solemn thing ! for what 
is so solemn as to have that part of a man which is his 
most real self — his thoughts and faith — grow into others, 
and become part of their being ! Well, that will be his 
rejoicing in the judgment day ; for that harvest he will 
put in his claim. " We are your rejoicing." It was to 
be theirs that St. Paul had taught them in simplicity and 
godly sincerity, truly and fearlessly. It was to be Ms 



336 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

that spiritual thoughts and contrite feelings had been 
through him infused into them, and this though they 
partially denied it. Still, deny it as they might, they 
could not rob him of his harvest. 

My Christian brethren, may that mutual rejoicing be 
yours and mine in the day of Jesus Christ ! 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 337 



LECTURE XXXVII. 

August 1, 1852. 

2 Corinthians, ii. 6-11. — " Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, 
which was inflicted of many. — So that contrariwise ye ought rather 
to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should he 
swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. — Wherefore I heseech you that 
ye would confirm your love toward him. — For to this end also did I 
write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient 
in all tilings. — To whom ye forgive anything, I forgive also: for if 
I forgave anything, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it 
in the person of Christ; — Lest Satan should get an advantage of us; 
for we are not ignorant of his devices." 

The main defence of the Apostle against the charge of 
fickleness in the non-fulfilment of his promise was, that he 
had abstained from going to Corinth in order to spare 
them the sharp rebuke he must have administered had 
he gone thither. A great crime had been committed : 
the Church had been compromised, more especially as 
some of the Corinthians had defended the iniquity on 
the ground of Liberty, and St. Paul had stayed away 
after giving his advice, that not he, but they themselves, 
might do the work of punishment. He gave sentence 
— that the wicked person should be put away, but he 
wished them to execute the sentence. For it was a matter 
of greater importance to St. Paul that the Corinthians 
should feel rightly the necessity of punishment, than merely 
that the offender should be punished. It was not to 
vindicate his authority that he wrote, but that they should 

z 



338 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES 

feel the authority of Right; and the Corinthians obeyed. 
They excommunicated the incestuous person; for the 
Epistle of the Apostle stirred up their languid consciences 
into active exercise. Accordingly, he applauds their con- 
duct, and recommends them now to forgive the offender 
whom they had punished ; so that, in this section, we 
have St. Paul's views respecting — 

I. The Christian Idea of Punishment. 
II. The Christian Idea of Absolution. 

I. The Christian idea of punishment includes in it, first, 
the Reformation of the Offender. 

This is the first and most natural object of punishment ; 
and we infer it to have been part of St. Paul's intention, 
because when this end had been attained he required that 
punishment should cease: "Sufficient to such a man is 
this punishment." Now herein consists the peculiar spirit 
of Christianity, that whereas the ancient system of law 
sacrificed the individual to the society, and feeble philan- 
thropy would sacrifice society to the individual, Christianity 
would save both. It respects the decencies of life and its 
rights : it says the injur er must suffer : but it says, too, he 
also is a living soul, we must consider him : we must 
punish, so that he shall be made not worse, but better. 
So it was not only the dignity of the Corinthian Church 
that St. Paul thought of: he thought also of the fallen, 
.o-uilty state of his spirit who had degraded that Church. 
He punished him that his spirit might be saved in the day 
of the Lord Jesus. 

The second thing included in this idea is the Purification 
of Society. Punishment was also necessary for this reason 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 339 

— that sin committed with impunity corrupts the body of 
men to which the sinner belongs. This St. Paul declares 
in the First Epistle : " A little leaven leaveneth the whole 
lump." Now the purification of society is effected partly 
by example, and partly by removal of the evil. The 
discipline by which this removal was effected was called 
excommunication. At that time, apostolic excommunication 
represented to the world God's system of punishment. I 
do not say that it does so noiv, for the Church and the 
World have become so mixed, Church and State so trench 
upon each other's functions, that we know not where the 
division is. But I conceive that in early times the Church 
discipline was representative of the true idea of punish- 
ment: clearly St. Paul thought it was so. He did not 
think of extending it beyond the Church, for his idea 
of the Church was that of a pure society in the world, 
representing what the world should be; and so he does not 
require this separation to be rigidly enforced with respect 
to worldly men. This point is dwelt on in the fifth chapter 
of the First Epistle, in the tenth verse, and also in the thir- 
teenth verse of the twelfth chapter. For God judged those 
without, while the Church, God's representative, judged 
and exhibited this principle of punishment on those within. 
These two — to reform, and to serve as an example, are 
the only views of punishment which are found in the popular 
notion of it. But if we think deeper on the subject, we 
shall find, I believe, that there is another idea in punishment 
which cannot be lost sight of. It is this — that punishment 
is the expression of righteous indignation : God's punish- 
ment is the expression of God's indignation, man's punish- 
ment is the expression of man's indignation. In the fifth 

Z 2 



340 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

verse of this chapter, as explained once before, St. Pan! 
evidently thought that the guilty man had grieved — that 
is, offended — him partly, and partly the whole Church. 
Accordingly, their punishment of him was an expression of 
their indignation against him, as is clear from the eleventh 
verse of the seventh chapter, in which we must mark par- 
ticularly the word " revenge," and compare it with the text 
of Rom. xiii. 4., — "a revenger to execute wrath" — where 
the word is used, not in its evil meaning, but in the sense 
of righteous resentment expressing itself in punishment. 
For there is a right feeling in human nature which we call 
resentment: it exists equally in the best and the worst 
natures ; although in the worst, it becomes malice. It 
existed in Christ Himself, for it is not a peculiarity of 
fallen human nature, but it is an inseparable element of 
human nature itself. Now let us mark what follows from 
this : Man is the image of God : all spirits are of the same 
family. So there is something in God which corresponds 
with that which we call resentment, stripped, of course, 
of all emotion, selfishness, or fury. 

It is for this reason that we should strongly object to 
explain away those words of Scripture, "the wrath of 
God : " " God is angry with the wicked every day : " " the 
wrath of God is revealed from heaven." These sayings 
contain a deep and awful truth. God's punishment is God's 
Wrath against sin; and is not merely the consequence of 
lifeless laws, but the expression of the feeling of a Living 
Spirit. It would be most perilous to do away with these 
words; for if the Wrath of God be only a figure, His 
Love must be but a figure too. Such, therefore, is the 
true idea of human punishment. It exists to reform the 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 341 

offender, to purify society, and also to express God's and 
man's indignation at sin. 

II. The Christian Idea of Absolution. 

Before we go further, it will be well to explain some 
terms. Forgiveness is one thing absolution is another. 
Absolution is the authoritative declaration of forgiveness. 
For example, when Christ said to the sick of the palsy, 
" Son, be of good cheer ; thy sins be forgiven thee," He 
did not at this moment forgive him : he was forgiven 
already, but it was then that He declared his forgiveness. 

Now the case before us is a distinct, unquestionable 
instance of ecclesiastical absolution. You are aware that 
many utterly deny the possibility of such a power existing 
in man, beyond a mere declaration of God's promises to 
faith ; and the assurance of forgiveness on the part of any 
man would be counted, by some persons, as blasphemy. 
At once the cry of the Pharisees would be raised — 
" Who can forgive sins but God only ? " Now here, in 
the Church of Corinth is a sin : it is an offence not 
only against man, but also against God, — not a crime 
merely against society, but a sin ; and yet St. Paul says 
" I forgive." This is absolution : Man's declaration of 
God's Forgiveness — man speaking in God's stead. 

1. We consider, first, the use of absolution. It was to 
save from remorse. Absolution is here considered as a 
"comfort." Let us examine this more closely. There is a 
difference between penitence and remorse: penitence works 
life, remorse works death. This latter is more destructive 
even than self-righteousness, for it crushes, paralyzes, and 
kills the soul. No one, perhaps, but a minister of Christ 
has seen it in all its power : but some of us can tell you 



342 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

how tlie recollection of sin committed haunts men like a 
fiend. And so long as society lavs its ban on the offender, 
or so long as he feels that a secret crime, if once known, 
"would be accursed of the world, so long hope appears to 
him impossible. It is in vain that you speak of God's love 
and mercy in Christ to such a man. He will cry, " Yes : 
but is He merciful to me?'* Therefore, over and above 
the general declaration of God's mercy, there is needed, 
if you would comfort truly, a special, personal, human 
assurance to the individual. 

2. This absolution was representative. It represented 
the forgiveness of the congregation and the forgiveness of 
God. St. Paid forgave the sinner u for then sakes," and 
" in the person," that is, in the stead K of Christ." Thus, 
as the punishment of man is representative of the punish- 
ment and wrath of God, so the absolution of man is 
representative of the forgiveness of God. For Human 
nature is representative of Divine nature. And, further, 
the Church represents Humanity, and the Minister repre- 
sents the Church. Therefore, he who pronounces absolution 
at a sick man's bedside is but merely, as St. Paul was, 
speaking in the person of Christ You will object, per- 
chance : If God has forgiven the sinner, a man's word 
cannot add to it : if He has not forgiven him, a man's 
word cannot alter it, Yes, that is very true ; but, now in 
reply, consider a distinct command of Christ : " Into 
whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this 
house. And if the Son of Peace be there, your peace 
shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again." 
Xow a man might have said, What good is there in saying 
"peace?" If God's peace be in that family, you cannot 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 343 

add to it ; if not, you cannot alter it. But Christ says, 
Give your blessing: it will not create peace, but it will 
make it felt: "Your peace shall rest upon it." So if a 
Christian minister absolves, in Christ's words we may say, 
" If the sin be forgiven, that absolution will perhaps convey 
the soothing conviction to the soul ; if not your absolution 
will turn to you again.'' 

In conclusion, remember the ministerial absolution is 
representative : St. Paul forgave in the name of the 
Christian congregation. Every member, therefore, of 
that cono;reo;ation was forgiving the sinner : it was his 
right to do so, and it was in his name that St. Paul 
spoke ; nay, it was because each member had forgiven, that 
St. Paul forgave. 

Absolution, therefore, is not a priestly prerogative, 
belonging to one set of men exclusively. It belongs to 
Man, and to the minister because he stands as the 
representative of purified Humanity. " The Son of man," 
— that is, Man, — "hath power on earth to forgive sins." 
For society has this power collectively — a most actual 
and fearful power. AVho does not know how the unfor- 
givingness of society in branding men and women as 
outcasts, makes their case hopeless. Men bind his sins — 
lier crimes — on earth : and they remain bound ! £Tow 
every man has this power individually. The most remark- 
able instance, perhaps, in the Old Testament is that of 
Jacob and Esau. For years the thought of his deceit, 
and the dread of his brother, had weighed on Jacob's heart ; 
and when Esau forgave him, it was as if he " had seen the 
face of God." Be sure, this power is yours also. When 
a parent forgives a child, the child feels that God is nearer 



344 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

to him. When a master accepts a pupil's repentance, the 
pupil goes forth joyful from the master's presence. When 
schoolboys receive one who has been rejected, into fellow- 
ship again, a load is taken from that boy's bosom. When 
we treat the guilty with tenderness, hope rises in them 
towards God : their hearts say, " They love us ; will not 
God forgive and love us too ? " 

It is a sublime, godlike privilege which you have. Oh ! 
do not quarrel with Romanist or Tractarian about the 
dogma. Go and make it real in your own lives. Represent 
on earth the Divine clemency : forgive in the Person of 
Christ. Loose suffering outcasts from sin, and it will be 
loosed in Heaven. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 345 



LECTURE XXXVIII. 

August 8, 1852. 

2 Corinthians, ii. 12-17. — "Furthermore, when I came to Troas to 
preach Christ's gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord, 
— I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother: 
but taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia. — 
Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in 
Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in 
every place. — For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them 
that are saved, and in them that perish: — To the one we are the 
savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto 
life. And who is sufficient for these things? — For we are not as 
many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as 
of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ." 

2 Corinthians, iii. 1-3. — "Do we begin again to commend ourselves? 
or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or 
letters of commendation from you? — Ye are our epistle written in 
our hearts, known and read of all men: — Forasmuch as ye are mani- 
festly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written 
not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables 
of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart." 

Our last discourse closed with the eleventh verse, and was 
employed chiefly about St. Paul's doctrine of Christian 
absolution. To-day our exposition begins at the twelfth 
verse, which is an example of one of those rapid transi- 
tions so common in the writings of the Apostle. The 
first thing we have to do, then, is to trace the connection. 
Apparently there is none : we cannot at once see what 
the argument has to do with St. Paul going to Troas, 
nor what his unrest there has to do with the voyage to 



346 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

Macedonia. But remember that the main subject is St. 
Paul's defence against the charge of caprice. He had 
showed why he had not gone to Corinth according to 
promise. It was to enable the Corinthians to do the 
work of excommunication themselves, lest he should take 
it out of their hands, and so rob them of the spiritual 
discipline which comes from men's own exertions. For 
it is by what we do, and not by what is done for us, that 
we become strong or good. 

St. Paul gives an additional proof that it w T as not forget- 
fulness of them which had made him change his mind: 
this proof was his unrest at Troas. While there, one 
subject engrossed all his thoughts, the state of Corinth ; 
and the question — what would be the result of the letter 
he had sent? At Troas he expected to meet Titus, who 
was bearing the reply : but not finding him there, he could 
not rest; he could not take full comfort even from "the 
door which had been opened" for success. He left his 
work half finished, and he hastened into Macedonia to 
meet Titus. His argument therefore is, Did this look like 
forgetfulness ? Did this make it probable that he "had 
used lightness or purposed according to the flesh ? " Or 
did it show that he w r as absent unwillingly, putting force 
on himself, like a wise parent who refuses to see his child, 
though his heart is all the while bleeding at what he 
inflicts ? This is the connection between the twelfth and 
thirteenth verses. 

The next thing we have to do is to explain the link of 
thought between the thirteenth and the fourteenth verses. 
Here there is another startling abruptness. The Apostle 
on mention of Macedonia breaks off into thanksgiving: 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 347 

" Now thanks be unto God." Here is a notable instance of 
the peculiar style of St. Paul. He starts from the main 
subject into a digression, caused by a thought which he had 
not expressed, and which it was not necessary to express, 
since it was known to his readers. What w r as, then, the 
thought at which he broke off here into an exclamation of 
thanksgiving ? When w T e have found that, the connection 
will be clear. 

It was a thought which to the Corinthians would pre- 
sent itself at once. Observe, he had said that he went 
into Macedonia. What did he find there ? He found 
Titus with the long-looked-for letters, containing news 
far better than he had hoped for ; that the Corinthians had 
done all that he asked, had been recalled to shame for 
wrong and to a sense of right, that they had excommu- 
nicated the criminal, and that the criminal himself was 
penitent. We find this is referred to in the fifth, sixth, and 
seventh verses of the seventh chapter of this Epistle. As 
soon, therefore, as St. Paul came to the word "Macedonia," 
memory presented to him what had greeted him there, and 
in his rapid way — thoughts succeeding each other like 
lightning, — he says, without going through the form of 
explaining why he says it, "Now thanks be unto God." 
It may be observed that it is only by this kind of study 
that the Bible becomes intelligible. 

Now that the difficulty of the connection has been 
removed, we select from the verses two subjects for 
consideration : — 

I. The assertion in the close of the chapter : That the 
Christian is always a conqueror. 



:zz : 




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. :- 






: s : 



y 



-i 5- 



_ i z : : - 



350 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES 

With steadiness lie clearly contemplated this possibility. 
His truth would be to some "the savour of death unto 
death ; " for there can be no doubt that the faithful preach- 
ing of the Gospel sometimes kills. But it is no less the 
Gospel — no less a sweet savour to God. Just as the vigorous 
breezes that are fresh life to the strong, are death to the 
feeble lungs, so truth — strong truth — put before the haters 
of truth, makes them worse. For example, the sacrifice 
suggested to the rich young ruler was too strong for the 
weakness of his spirit, and the faint desire of good which 
was in him was slain. And yet is this Gospel which de- 
stroys, a sweet and acceptable savour to God, even in 
them that perish. An awful truth ! The Gospel preached 
in fidelity ruins human souls. A " banquet ! " — oh ! know 
ye what ye say ? It is sometimes death to hear it ! And 
yet we must not dilute it. How the Apostle rejoiced in 
that day that he had been uncompromising, and firm, and 
true ! " not dealing deceitfully with the Word of God." 
Even had the Corinthians perished, he must have rejoiced 
that their blood was not on his head. 

II. The nature of true Christian work. 

The work of the Apostle Paul is contained in the second 
verse : " Ye are our Epistle written in our hearts, known 
and read of all men." But let us explain the meaning of 
this phrase and its connection. The close of the second 
chapter looked like boasting — it seemed like a recom- 
mendation of himself. Now, in these verses, he is reply- 
ing to the possible charge. He declares that he wanted 
no commendation to them, no praise, no recommendatory 
letters ; and in this he was alluding to the ettigtoXcil 
avGTaTiKoi of the early church. A great Christian brother- 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 351 

hood was the Church, of Christ; and if a Christian of 
Corinth travelled to Rome or Galatia, he received from 
the bishop or congregation letters of recommendation, and 
was at home at once among friends. Now such a letter, 
St. Paul says, he did not need. Nor need any boasting be 
his, nor praise from himself or others : his works were too 
well known. What then were St. Paul's works? What 
were St. Paul's Epistles ? You will answer at once, These 
which we hold in our hands. " No ! " replies the Apostle. 
The Epistles of St. Paul were not those which were written 
then on parchment, or printed since in ink, but those which 
were written by God as truth on human hearts : " Ye are 
our Epistle." 

Now, first : Observe the remarkable expression of the 
Apostle: his letter! He was writing on men's hearts; 
and each man here is writing something; and his writing 
lasts for ever. Pilate uttered a deeper truth than he 
thought, when he said, " What I have written, I have 
written." For deeds are permanent and irrevocable : that 
winch you have written on life is for ever. You cannot 
rub, blot, or scratch it out: there it is for ever, your 
Epistle to the world and to the everlasting ages, for all 
eternity, palpably what you are, to be (i known and read 
of all men." This it is which makes life so all-important. 
Oh! then, take care what you write, for you can never 
mi write it again. 

Secondly : The best of all Epistles is that which a man 
writes and engraves on human spirits, " not with ink, but 
with the spirit of the living God ; not in tables of stone, 
but in fleshy tables of the heart." What then ? A man's 
ci works" — what are thev ? That which makes him 



352 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES 

" immortal," as we say. But what is that immortality ? 
Well, the Pyramids were cut in tables of stone, and the 
monuments of Assyria are more enduring than brass, and 
yet they will wear out. There are works which will out- 
last even these — written, not in rock, but in ink ; noble 
works of the Gifted and the Pure and True. There is 
the Bible, and St. Paul's Epistles as part of it. But there 
is something which will outlast the Pyramids and the 
Bible : a human soul, and the work for good or evil done 
upon it. This is the true Christian work; it is the highest: 
and yet not only that which an Apostle could do, but that 
which all may do. And think how many do it ! The 
mother, the teacher, the governess, the tutor — not ministers 
and Apostles only — are doing it. Men, my Brothers, your 
truest, your best work, almost your sole work, is in that 
which lasts for ever. 

Thirdly : It is fitting to distinguish between the scribe, 
or amanuensis, and the real author of the Epistle. St. 
Paul's language might have seemed a ground of boasting : 
had he not written that which was to last ? But he makes 
this distinction, that it was the Epistle of Christ, minis- 
tered by him. The Spirit of Christ — He was the author 
of the work, and St. Paul was but the amanuensis. Sup- 
pose, for example, that the poor scribe, who wrote one of 
these Epistles at St. Paul's dictation, had prided himself 
upon it, because it was written by his pen. Yet that were 
not so foolish, as if some poor miserable minister or teacher, 
rejoicing over his success, were to misdeem the work his 
own. 

The amanuensis ? — the man ? No ! It is the Spirit of 
the living God which does the work on human hearts. 



TO THE COEINTEIAXS. 353 



LECTURE XXXIX. 

1852. 

2 Corinthians, iii. 4-18. — "And such trust have Ave through Christ to 
God- ward: — Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything 
as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; — Who also hath made 
us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the 
spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. — But if the 
ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, 
so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of 
Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done 
away: — How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glo- 
rious? — For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more 
doth tbe ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. — For even that 
which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the 
glory that excelleth. — For if that which was done away was glorious, 
much more that which remaineth is glorious. — Seeing then that we 
have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: — And not as 
Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could 
not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: — But their 
minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail 
untaken away in the reading of the old testament: which vail is done 
away in Christ. — But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the 
vail is upon their heart. — Nevertheless when it shall turn to the 
Lord, the vail shall be taken away. — Now the Lord is that Spirit: and 
where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. — But we all, with 
open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed 
into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the 
Lord." 

The third chapter of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians 
is one long digression, and arose out of the necessity of 
explaining the apparent self-sufficiency and boasting of the 
seventeenth verse of the second chapter ; so it is not till 
the beginning of the fourth chapter that the subject of the 
second is taken up again. 

A A 



354 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

The beginning of the third chapter seems but a reite- 
ration of this boasting ; for St. Paul appeals to his work in 
proof of his ministry. True Christian work, according to 
him, was something written on human souls. Men — the 
hearts and spirits which he had trained — these were his 
Epistles to the nations; so that, if the world wanted to 
know what St. Paul meant to say, he replied — " Look at 
the Corinthian Church ; that is what I have to say : their 
lives are my writings." The first three verses, then, are 
only a re-statement of his vaunt. But, then, he explains : 
The Corinthians are our Epistle, yet not ours, but rather 
Christ's. Christ is the Author, I am but the scribe. Not 
I, but the Spirit of the living God, made them what they 
are : I have only been the minister. 

Hence he infers that there was no vanity in his asser- 
tion, though it looked like a boast. Eor the trust he 
had was not hi himself — the writer — but in Christ, the 
Spirit, the Author of the work : " Such trust have we 
through Christ to God-ward: not that we are sufficient 
of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our 
sufficiency is of God: Who also hath made us able 
ministers of the New Testament." Then it is that from 
these words ie able minister " he breaks off into a digres- 
sion, which occupies all the chapter, and is descriptive of 
the Christian ministry in contradistinction to the Jewish. 

Our subject now is the principle of the Christian minis- 
try; that is, the exposition and application of the Word 
of God. There are two modes in which this is done : — 

I. That of the Letter. 

II. That of the Spirit. 

Or — to use more modern equivalents — we distinguish be- 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 355 

tween the formal ministry and the spiritual one, — between 
the teaching of the Old Testament and that of the New. 

Let us make, however, one preliminary remark : Ours is 
an exposition ; and therefore we take the subject broadly. 
Our object is rather to get a comprehensive view of the 
Apostle's argument, than to pursue it into every particular. 
Each separate sentence might be the text of a rich ser- 
mon; but, omitting detail, we will confine ourselves to the 
main scope of the chapter ; that is, to the contrast we have 
spoken of above : — 

I. The ministry of the Letter. 

The ministry of Moses was one of the Letter ; it was 
a formal ministry — a ministry of the Old Testament : 
for a formal ministry, a ministry of the letter, and a 
ministry of the Old Testament have all the same mean- 
ing. It was the business of Moses to teach maxims, and 
not principles; rules for ceremonial, and not a spirit of 
life. And these things — rules, ceremonials, maxims, law 
— are what the Apostle calls here the "letter." Thus, for 
instance, Truth is a principle, springing out of an inward 
life; but Moses only gave the rule: "Thou shalt not 
forswear thyself." It is impossible not to see how plainly 
inadequate tins rule is to all that truth requires; for he 
who scarcely avoided perjury may have kept neverthe- 
less, to the letter of the law ! Again, Love is a principle ; 
but Moses said simply : " Thou shalt not kill, nor steal, nor 
injure." Again, Meekness and subduedness before God — 
these are of the Spirit ; but Moses merely commanded 
fasts. And, further, Unworldliness arises from a spiritual 
life : but Moses only said, " Be separate, circumcise your- 
selves ;" for, under the Jewish law, it was separation from 

A A 2 



356 LECTURES ON TEE EPISTLES 

the surrounding nations which stood in the place of Chris- 
tian unworldliness. 

It was in consequence of the superiority of the teaching 
of principles over a mere teaching of maxims, that the 
ministry of the letter was considered as nothing ; and 
this for two reasons : first, "because of its transitoriness, 
" it was to he done away with." 

Let us, then, look at this in a real, practical way. We 
say the Law was superseded by the Gospel. But why? 
By an arbitrary arrangement of God ? No : but on an 
Eternal principle. And this is the principle: — All formal 
truth is transient : no maxim is intended to last for ever. 
No ceremony, however glorious, however beautiful, can be 
eternal ; so that, though for the time it is a Revelation, 
yet it cannot last, because it is less than the whole truth. 
Thus, when Christ came, instead of saying, " Thou shalt 
not forswear thyself," He said, " Let your yea be yea, and 
your nay, nay:" so that the same truth which Moses had 
given in a limited form was stated by Christ in all its 
fulness, and the old form was superseded by the principle; 
and instead of saying, " Thou shalt not say, Fool, or Raca," 
Christ gave the principle of Love ; and instead of com- 
manding the devotion of the seventh part of time to God, 
Christianity has declared " the sanctification of all time ;" 
and instead of a command to sacrifice, that is, to give of 
your best, Christ says, " Give yourself a living sacrifice to 
God." In all these things, observe how the form was 
superseded : because the higher Truth had come, the 
Letter was " done away." 

The second reason for the inferiority of the Letter was 
that it hilled ; partly because, being rigorous in its enact- 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 357 

ments, it condemned for any non-fulfilment. In the ninth 
verse it is called a " ministration of condemnation." The 
Law had no mercy — it could have none; for its duties 
were done or not done ; there were in it no degrees of good- 
ness or evil : " He that despised Moses' law died without 
mercy." And partly it killed, because technicalities and 
multiplicities of observance necessarily deaden spiritual 
life. It was said by Burke that " no man comprehends 
less of the majesty of the English constitution than the 
Nisi Prius lawyer, who is always dealing with technicali- 
ties and precedents." In the same way none were so dead 
to the glory of the law of God as the scribes, who were 
always discussing its petty minutiae. While they were 
disputing about the exact manner in which a sacrifice 
should be slain, or the precise distance of a Sabbath day's 
journey, or the exact length of a phylactery, how could 
they comprehend the largeness of the Spirit which said, 
" I will have mercy and not sacrifice ? " 

This surely we can understand. Obedience is a large, 
free, glorious feeling ; Love is an expansion of the [whole 
heart to God; Devotion is an act of the heart, in which 
thought is merely silent. But could anything dull the 
vigour of Obedience more than frittering it away in 
anxieties about the mode and degree of fasting ? Could 
aught chill Love more than the question, " How often shall 
my brother offend and I forgive him ?" Or could anything 
break Devotion — an exercise of mind where heart should 
be all in all — more into fragments, than multiplied changes 
of posture, and turnings from side to side? Such were the 
deficiencies of the "letter," or the ministries of the Old 
Testament. 



358 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

Now observe : No blame was attributable to Moses for 
teaching thus. St. Paul calls it a "glorious ministry;" 
and it was surrounded with outward demonstrations — with 
thunders and mighty signs — to prove it so. The reason is, 
that maxims, rules, and ceremonies have truth in them : 
Moses was commissioned to teach truth so far as the 
Israelites could bear it ; not in substance, but in shadows ; 
not principles by themselves, but principles by rules, to 
the end of which the Church of Israel could not as yet 
see. In St. Paul's symbolic expression, a veil was before 
the lawgiver's face : it was truth he gave, but it was 
veiled ; its lineaments were only dimly seen. These rules 
were to hint and lead up to a Spirit, whose brightness 
would have only dazzled the Israelites into blindness then. 

II. We have now to consider the Ministry of the New 
Testament. 

1. It was a li spiritual " ministry : — 

The Apostles were " ministers of the spirit," and by this 
St. Paul means ministers of that truth which underlies all 
forms, whether of word or ceremony. He does not say 
that it was the Holy Spirit, but " the spirit," that is, the 
essence of the Law, that the Apostles were to minister. 
Precisely such was Christ's own description of a wise 
expounder of the Word, when He compares him to a 
householder bringing out of his treasures "things new 
and old," declaring old principles under new forms. The 
mistake men make is this: they would have for ever the 
same old words, the same old forms, whereas these are ever 
transient: intended to exist only as long as they are needful, 
and then to be " done away." There are to be new things, 
but there is still something in the old things which can 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 359 

never alter — the spirit which underlies the words, the 
ancient truth which creates the form it dwells in. It is in 
this sense that Christ is the Spirit of the law, for He is 
" the end of the law for righteousness to every one that 
believeth." And St. Paul's ministry to the Jews, and to 
the Judaists among the Gentiles, was freedom from the 
letter — conversion to the spirit of the law. Blinded as 
were their minds, veiled as were their hearts, nevertheless 
liberty was coming. For "when it" (the Jewish heart) 
" shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away: 
now the Lord is that Spirit." Therefore, to turn to the 
Lord Christ was to turn to the spirit, instead of the letter 
of the law ; and so they would become the true Israel, 
free, with clear vision : for " where the Spirit of the Lord 
is, there is liberty " — there is the " open face " which 
reflects the glory of Christ. 

2. The Ministry of the New Testament was a "life- 
giving " ministry. 

First, let us touch on the figurative meaning of the 
word " life-giving. " It is like a new life to know that 
God wills not sacrifice and burnt-offering, but rather 
desires to find the spirit of one who says, " Lo ! I come to 
do Thy will." It is new life to know that to love God and 
man is the sum of existence. It is new life — it is free 
thought — to know that " God be merciful to me a sinner I" 
is a truer prayer in God's ears than elaborate liturgies 
and long ceremonials of ecclesiastical ritual. 

Further: Christ was the spirit of the law, and He 
gave, and still gives the gift of Life. But how ? St. Paul 
replies in the eighteenth verse : A living character is 
impressed upon us : we are as the glass or mirror which 



360 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES 

reflects back a likeness, only we reflect it livingly ; it does 
not pass away from us as the image does from the glass, 
but is an imparted life which develops itself more and 
more within us : for Christ is not a mere example, but the 
Life of the world ; and the Christian is not a mere copy, 
but a living image of the living God. He is "changed 
into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the 
Spirit of the Lord." 

Now such a ministry — a ministry which endeavours to 
reach the life of things — the Apostle calls (1) an able — that 
is, a powerful — ministry. Observe, he names it thus, even 
amidst an apparent want of success. For such teaching 
may leave no visible fruits. It makes no party or sect. 
Its minister may seem to fail, but his victory is sure ; he 
works powerfully, deeply, gloriously. He moulds souls 
for the ages to come. He works for the eternal world. 

(2.) St. Paul calls it a bold ministry : " We use great 
plainness of speech." Ours should be a ministry whose 
words are not compacted of baldness, but boldness ; whose 
very life is outspokenness, and free fearlessness : — a 
ministry which has no concealment, no reserve; which 
scorns to take a via media because it is safe in the eyes 
of the world ; which shrinks from the weakness of a mere 
cautiousness, but which exults even in failure if the truth 
has been spoken, with a joyful confidence. For a man 
who sees into the heart of things speaks out not timidly, 
nor superstitiously, but with a brow unveiled, and with 
a speech as free as his spirit : " The truth has made him 
free." 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 361 



LECTURE XL. 

1S52. 

2 Corixthia>"s, iv. 1-15. — '"Therefore seeing -we have this ministry, as 
we have received merer, we faint not ; — But have renounced the 
hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling 
the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth 
commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of 
God — "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: — 
In whom the god of this -world hath blinded the minds of them 
which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, 
who is the image of God, should shine unto them. — For we preach 
not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord ; and ourselves your 
servants for Jesus' sake. — For God, who commanded the light to 
shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of 
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. — But 
we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the 
power may be of God, and not of us. — We are troubled on every side, 
yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; — Persecuted, 
but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; — Always bearing 
about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of 
Jesus might be made manifest in our body. — For we which live are 
alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus 
might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. — So then death worketh 
in us, but life in you. — We having the same spirit of faith, according 
as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also 
believe, and therefore speak; — Knowing that he which raised up the 
Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with 
you. — For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace 
might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of 
God." 

The first two verses of this chapter contain the principles 
of the Christian ministry : they embrace its motives — a 
sense of mercy and a sense of hope : they declare its 



362 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

straightforwardness, its scorn of craft and secrecy, its 
rejection of pious frauds and adroit casuistry; and they 
show that its influence is moral, and not official. Hence 
it becomes clear that its indirect was more sure than its 
direct influence. 

Now the connection of these two verses with the third 
is through the word " every." For a reply suggested itself 
to St. Paul's mind from some objector : fe Every man's 
conscience has not acknowledged the truth of the message, 
nor the heavenly sincerity of the messengers." To which 
the Apostle answers, The exceptions do not weaken the 
truth of the general assertion : to every man whose heart 
is in a healthy state — to all but the blinded — the Gospel 
is God's Lio;ht; and those to whom it is not Li^ht are 
themselves dark, for the obscurity is in themselves, and 
not in the truth. And then, having replied to this 
objection, St. Paul proceeds with the same subject — 
the Apostolic Ministry. He represents it under two main 
aspects : — 

I. As a Ministry of Light. 

II. As a reflection, in word and experience, of the Life 
of Christ. 

I. Let us glance at the fourth and sixth verses : a the light 
of the glorious Gospel : " {e God, who commanded the light 
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give 
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face 
of Jesus Christ." Compare with this what St. John says 
in the opening chapter of his Gospel : " The light shineth 
in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not." 
Nothing could be more different than the minds of St. Paul 



TO THE COEINTHIANS. 363 

and St. John ; and yet how remarkably they coincide in 
this thought — they both call Revelation, "Light!" Accord- 
ing to St. John, to live in sin was to live in darkness ; it 
was a false life — a life of lies — in which a man was untrue 
to his own nature. According to St. Paul, it was to live 
in blindness — " blinded by the god of this world." But 
both Apostles concur in representing Revelation as simply 
the unveiling of the truth : the manifestation of things as 
they are. This is strikingly shown in St. Paul's metaphor : 
"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of 
darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of 
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus 
Christ." As on the darkness of the physical world light 
rose at the Eternal K Be," and all things appeared as they 
were, not a creation, but a manifestation — and yet, in 
truth, a real creation (as but for light this world were as 
if it were not, since it is what it is in consequence of 
light) : so, on the moral darkness of a world in sin and 
ignorance, the light of revealed truth showed things as 
they are, and exhibited them in their true relative pro- 
portions. That revelation created, indeed, a new world, 
winch yet was not a creation of things that had not existed 
before : for the Gospel did not make God our Father ; 
it revealed what He had ever been, is, and ever shall be ; 
it disclosed Him, not as a tyrant, but as a Father: not 
as a chance, or a fate ; not as a necessary thing, but as a 
Person; and in the Life of Christ the Love of God has 
become intelligible to us. The Gospel threw light on 
God : light unknown before, even to the holiest hearts 
among the Jews. " Clouds and darkness are the habitation 
of His seat," spoke the Old Testament : " God is Light, 



364 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

and in Him is no darkness at all," declared the New. For, 
out of Christ, our God is only a dark, dim, and dreadful 
mystery. There is only an awful silence, which is never 
broken by an articulate voice. But all is brightness in the 
Redeemer's life and death. 

The Gospel threw light, too, upon man's own nature. 
Man — a dark enigma, a contradiction to himself, with god- 
like aspirations and animal cravings — asks his own heart 
in terror, " Am I a god or beast ? " And the Gospel 
answers: "You are a glorious temple in ruins, to be 
rebuilt into a habitation of God and the Spirit, your soul 
to be the home of the High and Holy One, your body to 
be the temple of the Holy Ghost." It threw light upon 
the grave ; for " life and immortality " were " brought to 
light through the Gospel." The darkness of the tomb 
was irradiated; and the things of that undiscovered land 
shone clear and tranquil then to the eye of faith: but 
not until then, for before, immortality was but a mournful 
perhaps. 

Now there are three practical deductions from this view 
of Truth. 

1 . As to ministerial conduct. Our life is to be a mani- 
festation of the Gospel. Observe St. Paul's argument: — 

We do not tamper with the Word of God. It is not con- 
cealed or darkened by us ; for our very work is to spread 
light, to throw sunshine on every side, and in every 
way fearlessly to declare the truth, to dread no conse- 
quences : for no real minister of Christ can be afraid of 
illumination. 

2. Light is given to us that we may spread it. " We 
preach . . . ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 365 

God . . . hath shinecl in our hearts." If He has illumi- 
nated us, then we are your servants, to give you this 
illumination. We should be as " a city set on a hill ;" as 
the salt which penetrates and purifies the earth : " Ye 
are the light of the world." This St. Paul felt vividly: 
St. Paul, who had himself been in darkness ; and shall 
we refuse to feel it? we, who have had ages of light, 
which St. Paul had not ? Our more open heaven seems 
to shut us out from feeling this. Perhaps we, who have 
been, or fancy ourselves to have been, in the brightness 
of his revelation all our lives, scarcely appreciate the 
necessity which he felt so strongly of communicating it. 

3. It is the evil heart which hides the truth. Li^ht 
shines on all, that is, all who are in a natural human state, 
all who can feel, all who have not deadened the spiritual 
sense. It is not the false life which can know the truth, 
but the true life receives what is akin to it : for " every- 
one that is of the truth heareth my voice." 

Thus observe — what are "the evidences of Christianity." 
" The evidences of Christianity " are — Christianity. The 
evidence of the sun is its light, and not the shadow on 
the dial. So Christ is divine to those who are of the truth. 
To some persons He is not the image of God. How will 
you prove to such that He is ? Is it by arguing about 
miracles and prophecy ? Is it by discussion about the true 
reading of texts, or by requiring belief on the authority of 
the Church ? No. It is by means of a right heart : it is 
by means of God's Spirit ruling in the heart. These, and 
these alone, will disclose Christ to a man ; for " no man 
can say that Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy Ghost ; " and 
again : " The natural man receiveth not the things of the 



366 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

Spirit of God," and for this reason — " they are spiritually 
discerned." 

Again, it is the worldly heart which hides the truth. 
u The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them 
which believe not." An awful thought ! " The light of 
the glorious Gospel" is shut out by ourselves from our 
lives, apart from immorality, apart even from actual sin. 
For worldliness is distinct from sin, and the denunciation 
of it is peculiar to Christianity. It does not consist in 
distinct acts, nor in thoughts of transgression, but it is 
the spirit of a whole life, which hides all that is invisible, 
real, and eternal, because it is devoted to the visible, the 
transient, and the unreal. Christ and the world cannot 
exist in the same heart. Men who find their all in the 
world — how can they, fevered by its business, excited by 
its pleasures, petrified by its maxims, see God in His 
purity, or comprehend the calm radiance of Eternity ? 

II. The Apostle represents the Ministry as a reflection, 
in word and experience, of the Life of Christ. 

1. In word. — Let us compare the second verse with 
the thirteenth. We manifest the truth, " commending 
ourselves to every man's conscience," because we speak 
in strong belief. The minister of Christ speaks in faith ; 
that is, in a firm conviction of Divine power arising from 
the Resurrection — faith in the delivering or redeeming 
power of God. Observe the difference between this and 
theological knowledge. It is not a minister's wisdom, but 
his conviction which imparts itself to others. Nothing 
gives life but life. Ileal flame alone kindles other flame : 
this was the power of the Apostles : " We believe, and 
therefore speak:" — "We cannot but speak the things 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 367 

which we have seen and heard : " — " He that saw it bare 
record, and his record is true : and he knowetli that he 
saith true, that ye might believe." Firm faith in what they 
spoke, that was the basis of the Apostles' strength ; but in 
us there is one thing wanting — we only half believe. If 
we really believed the truths we deliver week after week, 
would not our hearts be filled with such deep earnestness, 
that the spectacle of men and women listening uncon- 
cernedly to the Gospel would sadden all our days, and 
impel us to preach as if we should never preach again ? 

In the fifth verse, St. Paul says he preaches Christ, 
and not himself. Rescue this expression from all party 
interpretations, and the minister will understand that he is 
to preach, not the Christ of tins sect or of that man, but 
Christ fully — Christ our Hope, our Pattern, our Life — 
Christ in us, the Light which is in every man subjectively ; 
and Christ the Light which, shining objectively in His Life, 
and Death, and Resurrection, daily increases, as we gaze, 
the Light of the Christ within us. 

2. The Ministry is a reflection of Christ's Life in ex- 
perience. It might be a matter of surprise that God's 
truth should be conveyed through such feeble instru- 
ments — men, whom the axe and the lion could destroy. 
"Well, the Apostle acknowledges that it is so. He calls 
them " earthen vessels : " he knows them to be but fragile 
receptacles of this " treasure." But this very circum- 
stance, instead of proving that the Gospel is not of God, 
proves that it is. For what was the life of these men 
but the Life of Christ over again — a Life victorious in 
defeat? " I fill up," says St. Paul, (i that which is behind 
of the afflictions of Christ : " " Always bearing about 



368 LECTUEES ON THE EPISTLES 

in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life 
also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body." So 
that, in their sufferings, the Apostles represented the 
death of Christ, and in their incredible escapes, His resur- 
rection. Figuratively speaking, their escapes were as a 
resurrection. Compare the word resurrection, used in the 
sense of escape, in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, at 
the thirty-fifth verse. One might almost say that the 
Apostles bore a charmed life — a mystic resemblance to 
their - Lord : an existence which rose, like the fabled 
phoenix, into fresher being from its ashes. 

Christ, then, is the mystic symbol of Christian life : 
His death and His resurrection are repeated in His people. 
Only with exquisite truthfulness, and in opposition to all 
one-sided exaggeration, St. Paul observes, that in some 
Christians the death was more exhibited, in others the 
Resurrection : " So then death worketh in us, but life in 
you." For there are various types of the Divine life, 
as, for example, in Christ and in John the Baptist. It 
takes effect sometimes on the side of the Cross, sometimes 
on the side of the Resurrection. In different periods of 
the same life, in different ages of freedom or persecution — 
as we have known in the depressed Church of the Albi- 
genses and the victorious Church of England — in different 
persons during the same age, the Cross and the Resur- 
rection alternate, and exist together. But in all there is 
'progress — the decay of evil, or the birth of good; for 
" though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is 
renewed day by day," 

It was in this way that the early Church followed Christ's 
Life, weekly and yearly. Friday and Sunday showed to 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 369 

them the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. Good Friday 

and Easter-day filled them with sorrow and with joy. 

For such is the true Christian aspect of life. We are not 

to choose the Cross exclusivelv. The death and the life of 

»/ 

Christ are to be manifested in our mortal body. We are to 
let things come as God pleases, making both joy and sorrow 
divine, by infusing into them the Cross and the Resurrec- 
tion. We are to show Christ forth in our lives till He 
comes. He is the Sun : and Christian life is as the turning 
of the sunflower to the Sun. This was the explanation of 
the mystery of St. Paul's own existence in the death and 
resurrection of his Lord : he was living Christ over again. 
Christ was Human Nature personified. In His Death, 
St. Paul saw the frail Humanity subject to decay ; in His 
Resurrection, the Apostle saw human life elevated into 
Divine existence. He u was crucified through weakness, 
yet He liveth by the power of God." And so St. Paul 
felt that every true human soul must repeat Christ's exist- 
ence. He could bear to look on his own decay ; it was 
but the passing of the human: and, meantime, there was 
ever gokio; on within him the strengthening of the Divine. 
Thus his own contracted, isolated existence was gone : it 
had been absorbed into communion with a Higher Life : 
it had been dignified by its union with the Life of lives. 
Just as the tidal pulsations in the estuary, a few inches 
only more or less, are dignified bv referring them to the 
ocean life with which they are connected, since they 
repeat what the sea performed a few hours before: so 
St. Paul felt himself, in connection with the great sea 
cf Humanity and with God. Pain was sacred, since 

B B 



370 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

Christ had also suffered. Life became grand when viewed 
as a repetition of the Life of Christ. The Apostle lived, 
" always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord 
Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest 
in" his "mortal flesh." 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 371 



LECTURE XLI. 

1852. 

2 Corinthians, iv. 16-18. — "For which cause we faint not ; but though 
our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. 
— For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us 
a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; — While we look 
not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not 
seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things 
which are not seen are eternal." 

2 Corinthians, v. 1-3. — For we know that if our earthly house of this 
tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not 
made with hands, eternal in the heavens. — For in this we groan, 
earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from 
heaven : — If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked." 

In our last lecture we viewed the Christian ministry as one 
of Light, and as a reflection of the Life of Christ in word 
and in experience. To-day we consider — 

I. The trials of the Christian ministry. 
II. The consolations of the Christian ministry. 

I. — Its trials: This is ground which has been gone 
over before. We will glance at one or two instances of 
the trials of modern missionaries : I recollect Weitbrecht, 
who recently died at Calcutta ; — and well do I remember 
the description he gave of the difficulties encountered by 
the Gospel missionaries in the East. What a picture he 
drew of the almost unconquerable depression which was 
produced by the mere thought of going back to India : to 

B B 2 



372 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

struggle with the darkening effects of universal idolatry 
— with the secret sense of incredulity in Christian Truth, 
giving rise to the ever-recurring doubt — " Can the Gospel 
light be only for us few, while countless myriads of the 
human race still walk in the c shadow of death ? ' " — 
Observe, too, the peculiar class of trials to be encountered 
in hot climates, which intensify the passions of our human 
nature, and render a resistance to opportunities offered for 
their gratification a difficult task indeed. For the martyr 
spirit is not shown merely in physical suffering. 

Take another instance : — The dangers and escape of the 
missionary Krapf in East Africa. What obstacles did he 
not encounter in his endeavours to effect a chain of mis- 
sions from West to East of that dreary continent! now 
attacked by robbers in the mountains of Bura ; — and then 
many days without food, is forced at last to drink water 
from a musket-barrel and to eat gunpowder ! 

Remember, too, the graves of the Christian missionaries 
piled so soon and so rapidly on the pestilential plain of 
Sierra Leone : — remember Gardiner at Terra del Fuego ; 
— Clapperton dying amid the sands of Africa — the Landers 
— Mungo Park ; — and you will find that the missionaries 
and pioneers of Christianity still encounter the same trials, 
the same dangers, from famine, pestilence, and the sword, 
of which St. Paul so eloquently speaks in his Epistles. 

II. Christian consolations. 

1. The comprehension of the law of the Cross. 

Spiritual life is ours through temporary death : for 
<( though our outward man perish, yet our inward man is 
renewed day by day." Strength is ours through suffer- 
ing ; for " our light affliction .... worketh for us a 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 373 

far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Thus, 
the law of our Humanity is life out of decay ; the type 
and exemplification of which is the Cross of Christ. And 
this is the true soother of affliction — this one steadfast 
thought — the glory which is being worked out thereby. 
For pain and death change their character according to 
the spirit in which they are viewed, just as the amputa- 
tion of a limb is quite as painful as the shattering of it 
by an accident; yet in the one case the sufferer shrieks, 
in the other bears it heroically: because his will goes 
with the operation, because he feels it is right, and 
knows ivhy it is done. Mark, however, one distinction: 
It is not merely the perception of the law which makes 
trial tolerable, but a law personified in One whom we 
love. The law is, " Our light affliction, which is but 
for a moment, worketh for us glory." Stoicism taught 
that: but Christianity teaches it in the Person of Christ. 
The Cross is an abstraction until clothed in flesh and 
blood. Go and talk like a philosopher to one in suffer- 
ing : you get an acknowledgment of your effort, but you 
have not soothed the sufferer. But go and tell him of 
the law in Christ ; tell him that He has borne the Cross ; 
and there is the peculiar Christian feeling of comfort, with 
all its tenderness, humanity, and personality. The law of 
the Cross is the truth, the rock truth, but only in a Person. 
And hence comes the hymned feeling — how much more 
living than a philosophy ! — 

" Rock of Ages, cleft for me, 
Let me hide myself in Thee." 

So it is that in the mere word Cross there is that 
sentiment which no other word in the English language 



374 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

can supply. Law of self-sacrifice ? No : that is cold, not 
dear to us, personal, living, like the Cross. 

Oh ! we live — not under laws, nor philosophical abstrac- 
tions, but under a Spirit : and the true expression of Chris- 
tianity is u Christ in you, the hope of glory." Let us 
exemplify this from the experience of missionaries. How 
beautiful and touching is the remarkable gratitude of 
Gardiner for a few drops of water trickling down a 
parched boat's side ! Listen, too, to what Krapf says :— 
ie In the sanctuary of reason I find nothing but discourage- 
ment and contradiction ; but in the sanctuary of God a 
voice comes to me and tells me — f Fear not; death leads 
to life, destruction to resurrection, the demolition of all 
human undertakings to the erection of the kingdom of 
Christ.' " Observe how this is the very principle ex- 
pounded last Sunday. The death and resurrection — the 
law of Christian life — was his strength, as of old it was 
St. Paul's. 

2. The contemplation of things not seen. 

Two characteristics are mentioned as belonging to these 
things. They are, " not seen," and " eternal." Now what 
are these things? Not merely things unseen because 
they are hidden by distance, so that we shall see them 
hereafter, and only not now; but they are things which 
are not seen, because they never can be seen. They are 
not things which are superior to those which are seen; 
because though of the same nature, the latter perish, while 
the former last for ever. They are not houses which 
do not decay, nor clothes which do not wear out; but 
they are things which are eternal because they are not 
material. This is the essence of the distinction and con- 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 375 

trast. The Right, the True, the Just — these are not seen, 
and never will be : they are eternal, but they exist now as 
they will be for ever. The Kingdom of God is not fixed 
in one place, nor known to the eye of sense; it cannot 
come " by observation :" neither can ye say, " Lo ! here," 
or " Lo ! there," for there is no locality now, nor will 
there be for ever, for the things which are Eternal, Im- 
mortal, Invisible. These are the things of which St. Paul 
says : " Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, 
whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, 
whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, 
whatsoever things are of good report ; if there be any 
virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." 
It is the outward and material things that perish: it is 
the inward that are renewed. Pain is for time: guilt 
is for ever. Physical punishment is for time ; but horror 
can never die ! Distinguish well what the heavenly is : 
because it is not the mere element of Time that makes 
things base or noble. A thrill of nerve, even if it were to 
last for ever, would not be heavenly. A home of physical 
comfort, even if it were to endure like the Pyramids, would 
be no sublimer than one of straw and rafters. But the 
everlasting Heaven of God's saints is around us now. 
The invisible world contemplated by the martyrs is what 
it was, and ever will be — visible only to faith. 

3. The thought of a life beyond the grave. 

Take this in connection with the sixteenth verse of 
the fourth chapter, with this thought in our hearts : " For 
which cause we faint not ; though our outward man perish, 
yet the inward man is renewed day by day." Some 
men there are to whom this hope is impossible. There 



376 LECTUEES ON THE EPISTLES 

are some who live a merely human life: and life merely 

as such, since it does not necessarily imply immortality, 

produces no inward certainty of an existence beyond 

the grave. There are those who lead the life of the 

ephemeron, in whom there is nothing immortal, spending 

their days like the beasts that perish — nay, less fitted for 

eternity than they. No deep thoughts, no acts fought out 

on deep abiding principles, have been theirs. They live 

mere accidental beings, light mortals who dance their 

giddy round above the abysses, looking at the things seen, 

with transient tears for sorrow and transient smiles for 

joy. This life is their All; and at last they have fluttered 

out their time, and go forth into endless night. Why not? 

what is there in them that is not even now perishing? 

But St. Paul, beset by persecution, the martyr of the 

Cross, daily flying for his life, in perils by land and sea, 

drew immortal comforts out of all his trials. Every 

sorrow gave him a keener sight of the things invisible. 

Every peril, every decay of the outward, strengthened in 

him that inward man "risen with Christ," which is the 

earnest of our immortal life. With this hope he was 

comforted, and with this eternal existence growing within 

him, he was buoyed up above the thought of weakness 

or of dismay. A time would come when all should be 

changed : this earthly house should be dissolved ; but he 

fainted not : for he says, " We know that .... we have 

a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal 

in the heavens." The hope of immortal life was his, and 

with that he was consoled. 

That hope was not a selfish one. There are some who 
sav that to live a high life here, in the hope of immortality 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 377 

hereafter, is an unworthy object; that it is more noble 
to do good, and to act well, and be content to perish. 
Strange perversion ! Is the desire of food, for the sake of 
food, selfish ? Is the desire of knowledge, for the sake of 
knowledge, selfish ? No ! they are appetites each with its 
appointed end : one a necessary appetite of the body, the 
other a noble appetite of the mind. Then, is the desire of 
immortal life, for the sake of "more life and fuller," 
selfish ? No ! rather it is the noblest, purest, truest 
appetite of the soul. It is not happiness nor reward we 
seek ; but we seek for the perfection of the imperfect — 
for the deep, abounding life of those who shall see God 
as He is, and shall feel the strong pulsations of that exist- 
ence which is Love, Purity, Truth, Goodness : to whom 
shall be revealed all the invisible things of the Spirit 
in perfection ! 



378 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 



LECTURE XLII. 

1852. 

2 Corinthians, v. 4-11. — "For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, 
being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, 
that mortality might be swallowed up of life. — Now he that hath 
wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto 
us the earnest of the Spirit. — Therefore we are always confident, 
knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from 
the Lord: — (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) — We are confident, 
I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be pre- 
sent with the Lord. — Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or 
absent, we may be accepted of him. — For we must all appear before 
the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things 
done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good 
or bad. — Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men ; 
but we are made manifest unto God ; and I trust also are made mani- 
fest in your consciences." 

In the preceding verses St. Paul has spoken of two great 
consolations in ministerial trial — the thought of things 
invisible, and the expectation of a blessed resurrection. 
In considering them, I tried to explain what things 
invisible are: and I said they were not things unseen 
because separated by distance, or by reason of the imper- 
fection of our faculties, or of any interposed veil ; but they 
were unseen because in their nature they were incapable 
of being seen — such as Honour, Truth, and Love. I tried 
to show how the expectation of immortality is not a selfish 
hope, because it is not the desire of enjoyments such as we 
have here, but the desire of a higher inward life — "an 
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 379 

But here evidently a mistake might arise. Speaking 
thus of a spiritual heaven, it is quite possible that men 
might conceive of it as a disembodied state, and suppose 
the Apostle to represent life in a visible form as degrada- 
tion. There were such persons in the old time, who 
thought they could not cultivate their spirit-nature with- 
out lowering that of their body. They fasted and wore 
sackcloth, they lay in ashes, and eschewed cleanliness as 
too great a luxury. Nay, they even refused to hear of a 
resurrection which would restore the body to the spirit: 
redemption being, according to them, release from the 
prison of the flesh. 

In opposition to such views the Apostle here says, cor- 
rectively : " Not for that we would be unclothed, but 
clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life." 
That is, it is not that we are to get rid of something, but 
to gain something. Not the lowering of the body, but the 
strengthening of the spirit — that is spirituality. For there 
are two extremes into which men are apt to run : they 
either serve the body as a master, or crush it as an enemy. 
Whereas St. Paul taught that the true way of mortifying 
the flesh is to strengthen the spirit. The mortal will dis- 
appear in the elevation of the immortal. 

Here then we have — first : A test of spirituality. Let us 
observe the description given : " We that are in this taber- 
nacle do groan, being burdened." If we stop here, myriads 
deserve the name of spiritual men: for who has not groaned, 
being burdened, in this tabernacle ? Disappointment may 
sicken a man of living, or the power of enjoyment may 
fail, or satiety may arrive to the jaded senses and feelings : 
or, in pain and poverty, a man may long for the grave ; or 



380 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

old age may come, when " the grasshopper is a burden." 
For example, Job uttered maledictions on the day when 
he was born: "Wherefore is light given to him that is 
in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul ; which long for 
death, but it conieth not; and dig for it more than for 
hid treasures; which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, 
when they can find the grave ? " If then the mere desire 
to be unclothed were spirituality, that passionate impreca- 
tion of Job's was spiritual. But St. Paul's feeling was : 
" Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, 
that mortality might be swallowed up of life." With him 
a desire to depart and to be with Christ implied a yearning 
for a higher spiritual life, and a deeper longing for more 
resemblance to the mind of Christ. 

Secondly : The principle of Christian assurance. 

First of all, there is such a thing as Christian assurance : 
" Therefore we are always confident : " and again, " I 
know whom I have believed : " and again, " We know 
that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, 
we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, 
eternal in the heavens." Such was St. Paul's assurance. 
We may not feel it ; but, my brethren, we must not lower 
the standard of Christian attainment to suit our narrow 
lives. To many of us Heaven is an awful peradventure. 
It is so to most men who are living in comfort, and are not 
suffering for Christ. But to St. Paul, ever on the brink 
of that world to come, his own immortality of blessedness 
was no peradventure. It was not a matter of doubt with 
him whether he was Christ's, or not. Let us, then, see the 
grounds of this assurance. 

1. God's purpose: "He that hath wrought us for the 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 381 

selfsame thing is God." 2. God's Spirit in the soul — "an 
earnest." 

1. God's purpose. — St. Paul would not believe that God 
was merely weighing His frail creatures in the balance. 
No : they were purposed by Him for heaven ; God meant 
their blessedness: "For God hath not appointed us to 
wrath, but to obtain salvation." He had redeemed them 
by the blood of an everlasting covenant : " If when we 
were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death 
of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be 
saved bv His life." Our salvation does not hancr on our 
own desires : it is in the hands of One who loves us better 
than we love ourselves. 

2. God's Spirit in the soul — " an earnest." 

Here, in another form, is the repetition of St. Paul's view, 
that the literal resurrection is naturally, in the order of 
grace, but a development of the spiritual resurrection. To 
repeat the simile I have previously used : As the vital force 
appears in things so different as leaf, flower, and fruit, so 
the Divine life manifests itself first in the spiritual, and 
then in the literal resurrection. And just as when the 
flower appears, you infer the future fruit, excluding the 
possibility of a blight, so when spiritual goodness appears 
you infer future glory. This is Christian assurance. 
Therefore, if God's Spirit be in you, be confident, yet 
humble; rejoice with trembling, but still with unshaken 
trust in coming blessedness. 

Hence Christian life becomes now a life of faith : 
" We walk by faith, not by sight." There is a life called 
in Scripture "a life hid with Christ in God." Now it 
is very easy to speak glibly and fluently of that life as a 



382 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

common tiling. I cannot bring my lips to use such lan- 
guage. It is a rare and wondrous life; and so,, in speaking 
of it, I prefer to contemplate the life of St. Paul, instead 
of assuming the existence of ordinary men to be such as is 
here described. A life like his — was it not indeed hidden 
with his Master in the heavens ? He was ever on the 
brink of the grave. To him the world was crucified. He 
had unlearned the love of this life by an intense desire of 
another. The Cross of Christ was all that to him seemed 
beautiful ; so that this present existence became a kind of 
banishment (v. e) — a place of sojourn, and not a home. 
He moved on, free from incumbrances, ever "ready to 
depart, and to be with Christ." 

The thought of such a life has in it something very 
awful and sublime. It is almost fearful to think of a human 
being really living as St. Paul did, breathing the atmo- 
sphere of heaven while yet on earth. But I remark it now 
for this purpose : to remind you that the words of St. Paul 
cannot be, except with shocking unreality, adopted by per- 
sons who are living less spiritually than he did. There 
is a common but, I think, most dangerous habit of using 
Scripture language familiarly, calling one-self "the chief 
of sinners," talking of " spiritual joys and experiences," 
and of " communion with God :" of " living by faith," and 
of this " pilgrim life." On many lips these are weak and 
false expressions. It is like using Goliath's armour, and 
thinking that thereby we get a giant's strength : while so 
long as we are not strong, such armour would only weaken 
us. And so, the fact of our using Scripture language does 
not make us more spiritual: nay, it makes us less so, if it 
hides from us our weakness — if, while using the language 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 383 

of a spiritual giant, we forget that we are dwarfs. No, 
in j brethren: a life of faith is a grand, solitary, awful 
thing. Who amongst us is living it ? 

Hence, too, Christian life is a toil (v. 9) : — " We labour." 
In the original it is a strong word — "are zealous, put forth 
all our efforts." For St. Paul worked, knowing the night 
was coming. He strove — "ever as in his great Task- 
master's eye." And the motives for tins toil were two : — 

1. To please God. 

2. To be prepared for judgment. 

1. To no man did life present itself so strongly in 
the light of a scene for work as it did to St. Paul. That 
spirit which characterized his Master was remarkable in 
him. What was the Spirit of Christ ? " I must work the 
works of Him that sent me, while it is day:" "I have 
a baptism to be baptized with ; and how am I straitened 
till it be accomplished ! " " My meat is to do the will of 
my Father which sent me, and to finish His work." And 
this He did completely : at the close he says, " I have 
finished the work which Thou gavest me to do." This 
spirit was also in St. Paul. But now ^observe, this work 
was with him not a dire necessity, but a blessed privilege; 
for he says : "And I will very gladly spend and be spent." 
It was not the service of the slave: it was the joyous 
service of the freeman : " We are confident : wherefore 
we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be 
accepted of him." He was not working to win life, but 
because he had life ; he was labouring in love, to please 
God. 

2. The second motive was the feeling of accountability 



384 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

(v. 10) : " We must all appear before the judgment seat 
of Christ. Now, this feeling of accountability may assume 
either of two forms. In a free and generous spirit, it may 
be simply a sense of duty; in a slavish and cowardly 
spirit, it will be a sense of compulsion ; and the moment 
the sense of duty ends the sense of compulsion begins. 
So St. Paul says : " If I do this thing willingly, I have 
a reward : but if against my will, a dispensation of the 
Gospel is committed to me." That is, " If I cheerfully 
do it, the doing is itself reward; but if not, then it lies 
on me like an obligation." This is the difference between 
the two feelings : I ought, or I must ; the Gospel, or the 
Law. These feelings are repeated in every man ; for the 
Gospel and the Law are not two periods of history only, 
but they are two periods in universal human experience. 
Where the spirit of the Gospel is not, there the spirit of 
the Law is. Hence the Apostle says : " Knowing there- 
fore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." 

Consider, then, the terrors of the Judgment. Re- 
member, St. Paul does not say merely that he shall 
receive according to what he hath done in the body, but 
that he shall receive the things done — the very self-same 
things he did — they are to be his punishment. To illus- 
trate the Apostle's meaning by analogy, future retribution 
is the same as here on earth. God's punishments are not 
arbitrary, but natural. For example, a man commits a 
murder. It would be an arbitrary punishment if light- 
ning struck him, or an earthquake swallowed him up. 
The inhabitants of Melita, seeing the viper fasten on Paul's 
hand, inferred that he was a murderer. But God's punish- 
ment for hatred and murder is hardening of the heart. 



TO TEE COIUNTHIANS. 385 

He that shuts Love out, shuts out God. So again, if a 
man seduces another weaker than himself into crime, the 
earth will not open as it did for Dathan and Abiram. 
But God has hidden in the man's own heart the avenmno- 
law : he becomes a degraded man : the serpent-tempter's 
curse is his — " to go on his belly and eat dust all the days 
of his life." Or again, some one is plunged in passionate- 
ness, sloth, sensual life. God will not create a material 
flame to burn the man ; the name is spiritual, is inward — 
a reptile to creep and crawl, and leave its venom on his 
heart. He receives the things done in the body. Now, 
such as that is the law of future retribution : " Whatsoever 
a man soweth " — not something else, but " that shall he 
also reap : " a He which is filthy, let him be filthy still." 
Such are some of the Scripture metaphors to show the 
personality of future punishment. 

" Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord," says St. 
Paul, " we persuade men." Striking words ! Not " we 
terrify," not "we threaten," but "we persuade." Here 
was the difference between rhetorical thunders and the 
teaching of one who knew and believed the terrors of 
which he spoke. Oh ! contrast with this the tone in which 
God's ministers too often threaten sinners. They paint 
the torments of the lost minutely and hideously, and can 
yet go home to the evening meal with zest unimpaired. 
Think you, if such a man believed what he said — that the 
mass of his brethren were going to hell — he could sleep 
after his own denunciation. No ! when a man knows the 
terrors of the Lord, he "persuades men." Hence came 
the tears of Jeremiah ; hence flowed the tears of Him who 
knew the doom of Jerusalem. Therefore, if in our tone 

c c 



386 LECTURES ON TIIE EPISTLES 

there be any tiling objurgatory, denunciatory, threatening, 
may God give us the spirit to persuade ! May He teach 
ns to believe the'terrors of which we speak ! 

Brethren, there is no perhaps. These are things which 
will be hereafter. You cannot alter the Eternal Laws. 
You cannot put your hand in the flame and not be burnt. 
You cannot sin in the body and escape the sin ; for it 
goes inwards, becomes part of you, and is itself the penalty 
which cleaves for ever and ever to your spirit. Sow in 
the flesh, and you will reap corruption. Yield to passion, 
and it becomes your tyrant and your torment. Be sensual, 
self-indulgent, indolent, worldly, hard — oh ! they all have 
their corresponding penalties : " Whatsoever a man soweth, 
that shall he also reap." 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 387 



LECTURE XLIII. 

December 5, 1852. 

2 Corinthians, v. 12-17. — "For we commend not ourselves again unto 
you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have 
somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance, and not in 
heart. — For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether 
we be sober, it is for your cause. — For the love of Christ constraineth 
us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all 
dead: — And that he died for all, that they which live should not 
henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, 
and rose again. — Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the 
flesh, yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now 
henceforth know we him no more. — Therefore if any man be in Christ, 
he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things 
are become new." 

In the preceding chapters and verses St. Paul has been 
magnifying his ministry. It had been, he says, a ministry 
of the Spirit, not of the letter (iii. 6). It had been straight- 
forward and veracious : its authority had been that of the 
truth ; — " commending ourselves to every man's conscience 
in the sight of God" (iv. 2). It had been a suffering 
and a martyr ministry (iv. 8, 9, 10) ; representative, too, 
of Christ in word and deed (iv. 5 and 10) ; unworldly 
(v. 2, s, 9); and persuasive (v. 11). 

In all this the Apostle glorifies his own ministry and 
his way of performing it. It is a glorious description, 
truly. But when a man speaks thus of himself, we are 
apt to call it boasting. So, no doubt, many of the Corin- 
thians would call it; and hence St. Paul several times 

c c 2 



388 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

anticipates such a charge: for instance, in the first verse 
of the third chapter, and also in the twelfth verse of the 
fifth. For some of the Corinthian Church might have 
reasoned in this manner : " You say you commend your- 
self to our consciences, and that we recognize the truth 
of what you say from an inward plainness. Now if all 
this is so plain, why commend yourself? — why so anxious 
to set yourself right?" But the reply is: "I do not 
commend myself for my own sake. It is not a personal 
boast. It is the only possible reply to those who require 
a ministry with splendid external credentials, instead of 
the inward witness of the heart." — (v. 12.) 

I. The Apostle's defence of his self-approval. 

II. The general principles of life with which this self- 
approval was connected. 

I. The Apostle's defence was founded on two reasons. 
First : We " give you occasion to glory on our behalf, 
that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory 
in appearance, and not in heart." Secondly : " Whether 
we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be 
sober, it is for your cause." 

1. The false teachers gloried " in appearance," in out- 
ward demonstration, in dazzling credentials, such as elo- 
quence ; or they boasted of belonging to St. Peter, or 
prided themselves in a superabundance of spiritual gifts. 
On the contrary, St. Paul says that the true Apostolic 
credentials are those of the heart ; and accordingly, the 
proofs he had given were — his truth, his sufferings, his 
persuasiveness, his simplicity, his boldness, and his life as 
being an image of Christ's. This corresponds with what 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 389 

I have "before said, namely, that the Christian ministry 
is a succession of the prophetical, not the priestly office. 
There were two sorts of teachers, priests and prophets. 
The priest said : " Here are my credentials. I am or- 
dained God's messenger: therefore, what I say is to he 
received." The prophet said : " What I say is truth ; 
therefore, I am to he received as from God." The priest 
proved, first, that he was a messenger, and thence inferred 
his inspiration ; hut the prophet declared his message, and 
from it inferred that he was truly sent. This is clear 
from the nature of the thing. Every one knew who was 
the priest. But the prophet rose from amongst the people, 
proclaiming himself to he from God. " Where is your 
proof?" was the cry of all; and the answer came — "Here, 
in what I say." Consequently, the priest was always 
heard; the prophet's words were rarely helieved till he 
was slain: and this because men glory in appearances, 
not in heart. Now St. Paul's credentials were those of 
the heart ; — " by manifestation of the truth commending 
ourselves to every man's conscience." It was not, " First, 
Ave prove ourselves, and then our mission ;" hut, " First, 
we declare our message, and from it we deduce our apostle- 
ship." This is the Christian ministry. 

2. " Whether we he hesicle ourselves, it is to God." Now 
" Whether we he beside ourselves" means, " Whether 
we boast of ourselves." The vehemence of self-defence 
might he called so in temporary excitement. The Apostle's 
defence might seem like that of one deranged: as once 
before it appeared to the heathen Procurator : " Paul, 
thou are beside thyself." "Well," said St. Paul, "we 
adopt the words ( beside ourselves.' Be it so ! it is for 



390 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

God's cause. We boast of our qualifications for the sake 
of God, to whom they all belong." Or, again, " Whether 
we be sober" — that is, restrain ourselves — our moderation 
is an example of humility to you. 

There are, then, cases in which it is wise for a Chris- 
tian to vindicate himself against false charges ; there are 
others, in which it is wiser to restrain himself, and to 
remain silent. The Apostle's defence, vehement even so 
far as to provoke the charge of i{ being beside himself," 
teaches us that it is sometimes false humility, and false 
moderation, to lie under an undenied slur on our cha- 
racter or our words. To give another example: Samuel 
vindicated himself: "Whose ox have I taken? or whose 
ass have I taken ? or whom have I defrauded ? whom 
have I oppressed ? or of whose hand have I received any 
bribe to blind mine eyes therewith ? and I will restore it 
to you." For there are charges which must be met by 
legal purgation, or by avowal, or by denial; and then 
we must not hide nor deny the gifts with which God 
has endued us. In such a case, to do so, is not a vain 
declaration of our excellence, but a graceful acknowledg- 
ment of God's mercy: as, for example, Milton's noble 
boast. 

On the other hand, some charges are of a nature so 
delicate, complicated, and shadowy, that public defence 
leaves the matter worse than before. It is better, then, 
to let time and character defend you. For there are 
cases in which dignified silence is the Christian's onlv 
defence. So it was in our Saviour's life. Men misin- 
terpreted His words, and blackened His reputation. How 
was He to answer? Was He to go into the petty charges 



TO THE COKINTHIAKS. 391 

one by one ? or was He to leave time and God to defend 
Hiscanse? He was (i sober for" onr " cause." 

II. The general principles of Life with which the 
Apostle's self-approval was connected. 

It is the peculiarity of St. Paul's mind that he never can 
speak of an act as an isolated thing. You always find it 
referred at once to some great law, or running up into 
some great principle. If he sees a detached law, com- 
manding that the ox shall not be stinted of his provender, 
he grasps at once the principle that "the labourer is 
worthy of his hire." If he forbids lying, it is because 
u we are members one of another." Here, too, observe 
how high and divine motives enter into the smallest act. 
Even the Apostle's self-defence was in the genuine spirit 
of Christianity : " The love of Christ constraineth us." 
All was subordinate to that. Whether we are vehement, 
or whether we are silent, it is because His love constrains 
us. Remark, then, one thing in passing : it is St. Paul's 
Christianity : a pervading spirit, growing into a habit, and 
governing his very words ! 

Three subjects, then, we have for consideration : — 

1. The main principle of Christian Life — Love. 

2. The Law of redeemed Humanity. 

3. The new aspect of Humanity in Christ. 

1. Love, the main principle of Christian life. Herein 
consists Christian liberty: a Christian is freed from the 
Law, and yet he does what the Law requires, and more, 
because his obedience is not that of "the letter, but the 
spirit;" as St. Paul says, the Christian is constrained by 
love to act. And why ? Because God lias taught him that 



392 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

it is beautiful and right to do so, and because God has 
made the Love of Christ paramount in his heart to all other 
love. Let us make, therefore, a distinction. When we 
say that a Christian is free from the Law, we do not mean 
that he may break it, or not, as he likes. We mean that 
he is bound to do right by a nobler tie than " you must." 

Consider the Law as expressed in the first, fifth, sixth, 
seventh, and eighth commandments, and then examine the 
relations in which a Christian is placed with regard to 
these commandments. Llence the Apostle says : " To 
them that are without law" I became " as without law 
— but he explains — "being not without law to God, but 
under the law to Christ." And again : " Being then made 
free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness." 

Christian liberty, then, is a loving servitude to God. 
Just as if a slave were made free, and then felt him- 
self bound in gratitude to toil with tenfold vigour for a 
master whom he loved instead of fearing; or just as the 
mother is the slave to her sick child, and would do almost 
impossibilities, not because it is her duty, but because she 
loves her child; — so the whole moral law is abrogated to 
us as a Law, because obedience to it is ensured in the 
spirit. 

2. The Law of redeemed Humanity : ee Because we thus 
judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead." 

"All are dead:" that I call the law of redeemed Huma- 
nity. Let us explain this expression. It is sometimes 
interpreted : " If one died for all, then all must have been 
spiritually dead." But this is not St. Paul's meaning. 
Those who have intelligently followed his argument thus 
far, will see at once that it is beside his reasoning. There 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 393 

are two kinds of death — one in sin, before Redemption; 
the other to sin, which is Redemption. Here it is of 
the death to sin, and not the death in sin, that St. Paul 
speaks. This is his argument : — If One died as the repre- 
sentative of all, then in that death all died ; not that they 
were dead before, but dead then. You will recollect that 
this is the great thought throughout this Epistle. Every 
Christian is dead in Christ's death, and risen in Christ's 
resurrection : " In that He died, He died unto sin once : 
but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise 
reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but 
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Again, 
fi I am crucified with Christ : nevertheless I live ; yet not 
I, but Christ liveth in me." So here there is exactly the 
same train of thought : " He died for all, that they which 
live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto 
Him which died for them, and rose again." — (ver. 15.) 
This is Christ's Redemption : He died to sin for all, as the 
Representative of all. In His death we all have died. 
He rose again, and Life is now owed to Him. In Christ 
alone, then, is the true law of our Humanity intelligible. 

3. The new aspect of Humanity in Christ : " a new 
creature," or creation. 

Humanity as a whole, and individually, is spiritualized ; 
it is viewed in Christ as a thine* dead and alive ao-ain 
— dead to evil, but risen to righteousness. For even 
such is Christ, the Son of Man (v. ie) : "Yea, though 
w^e have known Christ after the flesh, yet now hence- 
forth know we Him no more." Even Christ we know 
now as the Son of God, rather than as the Son of Man. 
So by us Christ is to be known spiritually, and not 



394 LECTURES ON TEE EPISTLES 

with worldly ideas,, such as the Apostles had of Him 
when He lived. He is to be recognized no more as weak, 
rejected, despised, battling with evil, but as the Conqueror 
of Evil : for the Resurrection has shown what He was : 
He was " declared to be the Son of God, with power, 
according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from 
the dead." Remember, however, the historical order: 
Christ was revealed first as Man, then as God ; so, now, it 
is best to begin with the simplest aspect of Him. Teach 
children the simple beauty of Christ's manhood, only we 
must not rest there : " Now, therefore, it is not Christ 
who was, but Christ who is ; it is Christ who died, yea, 
rather who is risen again: who also liveth to make in- 
tercession for us." It is the same in each individual Chris- 
tian. A Christian is human nature revolutionized (v. 17). 
Almost the deepest thing in the Jewish mind was that 
exclusiveness which made the Jew at last believe that 
holiness consisted in national separation. In the Jew, 
then, Christianity caused the abjuration of prejudice. The 
Gentile it freed from atheism and idolatry. In both the 
Jew and Gentile it changed the life of flesh and self into a 
spiritual and self-sacrificing existence. 

My brethren, there must be a crisis in your being. It 
may be gradual in its progress, like John the Baptist's, or 
sudden, like St. Paul's ; but except it take place, " except 
a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God." 



TO THE CORISTHIAXS. 395 



LECTURE XLIV. 

June 23, 1S50. 

2 Corinthians, v. 14, 15. — "For tlie lore of Christ constraineth us; 
because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 
and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth 
live unto themselves, but unto him wsich died for them, and rose 
again." 

It may be that in reading these verses some of ns have 
understood them in a sense foreign to that of the Apostle. 
It may hare seemed that the arguments ran thus : — Be- 
cause Christ died upon the cross for all, therefore all must 
have been in a state of spiritual death before ; and if they 
were asked what doctrines are to be elicited from this 
passage, they would reply, <: the doctrine of universal 
depravity, and the constraining power of the gratitude due 
to Him who died to redeem us from it."' There is, how- 
ever, in the first place, this fatal objection to such an inter- 
pretation, that the death here spoken of is used in two 
diametrically opposite senses. In reference to Christ, 
death literal; in reference to all, death spiritual. Now, 
in the thought of St. Paul, the death of Christ was always 
viewed as liberation from the power of evil : (i in that he 
died, he died unto sin once," and again, (C he that is dead 
is freed from sin." The literal death, then, in one clause, 
means freedom from sin ; the spiritual death of the next 
is slavery to it. Wherein, then, lies the cogency of the 
Apostle's reasoning ? How does it follow that because 



396 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

Christ died to evil, all before that must have died to God? 
Of course that doctrine is true in itself, but it is not the 
doctrine of the text. 

In the next place, the ambiguity belongs only to the 
English word — it is impossible to make the mistake in 
the original : the word which stands for were, is a word 
which does not imply a continued state, but must imply 
a single finished act. It cannot by any possibility imply 
that before the death of Christ men were in a state of 
death — it can only mean, they became dead at the moment 
when Christ died. If you read it thus, the meaning of 
the English will emerge — "if one died for all, then all 
died ; " and the Apostle's argument runs thus, that if one 
acts as the representative of all, then his act is the act of 
all. If the ambassador of a nation makes reparation in a 
nation's name, or does homage for a nation, that repara- 
tion, or that homage, is the nation's act — if one did it for 
all, then all did it. So that instead of inferring that 
because Christ died for all, therefore before that all were 
dead to God, his natural inference is that, therefore, all 
are now dead to sin. Once more, the conclusion of the 
Apostle is exactly the reverse of that which this interpreta- 
tion attributes to him : he does not say that Christ died in 
order that men might not die, but exactly for this very 
purpose, that they might ; and this death he represents in 
the next verse by an equivalent expression — the life of 
unselfishness : " that they which live might henceforth 
live not unto themselves." The " dead " of the first verse 
are " they that live " of the second. 

The form of thought finds its exact parallel in 
Romans, vi. 10, n. Two points claim our attention: — 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 397 

I. The vicarious sacrifice of Christ. 

II. The influence of that sacrifice on man. 

I. The vicariousness of the sacrifice is implied in the 
word "for." A vicarious act is an act done for another. 
When the Poge calls himself the vicar of Christ, he 
implies that he acts for Christ. The vicar or viceroy of 
a kingdom is one who acts for the kino; — a vicar's act 
therefore is virtually the act of the principal whom he 
represents ; so that if the papal doctrine were true, when 
the vicar of Christ pardons, Christ has pardoned. When 
the viceroy of a kingdom has published a proclamation 
or signed a treaty, the sovereign himself is hound by 
those acts. 

The truth of the expression for all, is contained in this 
fact, that Christ is the representative of humanity — pro- 
perly speaking, the reality of human nature. This is 
the truth contained in the emphatic expression " Son of 
Man." What Christ did for humanity was done by 
humanity, because in the name of humanity. For a truly 
vicarious act does not supersede the principal's duty of 
performance, but rather implies and acknowledges it. 
Take the case from which this very word of vicar lias 
received its origin. In the old monastic times, when the 
revenues of a cathedral or a cure fell to the lot of a 
monastery, it became the duty of that monastery to per- 
form the religious services of the cure. But inasmuch as 
the monastery was a corporate body, they appointed one 
of their number, whom they denominated their vicar, to 
discharge those offices for them. His service did not 
supersede theirs, but was a perpetual and standing 



398 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

acknowledgment that they, as a whole and individually, 
were under the obligation to perform it. The act of 
Christ is the act of humanity — that which all humanity 
is bound to do. His righteousness does not supersede 
our righteousness, nor does His sacrifice supersede 
our sacrifice. It is the representation of human life 
and human sacrifice — vicarious for all, yet binding 
upon all. 

That Christ died for all is true — 

1. Because He was the victim of the sin of all. In the 
peculiar phraseology of St. Paul, he died unto sin. He was 
the victim of sin — He died by sin. It is the appalling mys- 
tery of our redemption that the Redeemer took the attitude 
of subjection to evil. There w T as scarcely a form of evil 
with which Christ did not come in contact, and by which 
He did not suffer. He was the victim of false friendship 
and ingratitude, the victim of bad government and injus- 
tice. He fell a sacrifice to the vices of all classes — to the 
selfishness of the rich, and the fickleness of the poor: 
intolerance, formalism, scepticism, hatred of goodness, were 
the foes which crushed Him. 

In the proper sense of the word, He was a victim. He 
did not adroitly wind through the dangerous forms of evil, 
meeting it with expedient silence. Face to face, and front 
to front, He met it, rebuked it, and defied it ; and just as 
truly as he is a voluntary victim whose body opposing the 
progress of the car of Juggernaut is crushed beneath its 
monstrous wheels, was Christ a victim to the world's sin : 
because pure, He was crushed by impurity ; because just 
and real, and true, He waked up the rage of injustice, 
hypocrisy, and falsehood. 



TO THE COKESTHIANS. 399 

Now this sin was the sin of all. Here arises at once 
a difficulty : it seems to be most unnatural to assert that in 
any one sense He was the sacrifice of the sin of all. We 
did not betray him — that was Judas's act — Peter denied 
him — Thomas doubted — Pilate pronounced sentence — it 
must be a figment to say that these were our acts ; we did 
not watch him like the Pharisees, nor circumvent Him like 
the Scribes and lawyers ; by what possible sophistry can 
we be involved in the complicity of that guilt? The 
savage of Xew Zealand who never heard of him, the 
learned Egyptian and the voluptuous Assyrian who died 
before He came ; how was it the sin of all ? 

The reply that is often given to this query is wonder- 
fully unreal. It is assumed that Christ was conscious, by 
His Omniscience, of the sins of all mankind ; that the 
duplicity of the child, and the crime of the assassin, and 
every unholy thought that has ever passed through a 
human bosom, were present to his mind in that awful hour 
as if they were His own. This is utterly un scriptural. 
Where is the single text from which it can be, except by 
force, extracted? Besides this, it is fanciful and senti- 
mental ; and again, it is dangerous, for it represents the 
whole atonement as a fictitious and shadowy transaction. 
There is a mental state in which men have felt the burden 
of sins which they did not commit. There have been cases 
in which men have been mysteriously excruciated with the 
thought of having committed the unpardonable sin. But 
to represent the mental phenomena of the Redeemer's mind 
as in any way resembling this — to say that His conscience 
was oppressed with the responsibility of sins which He 
had not committed — is to confound a state of sanity with 



400 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

the delusions of a half lucid mind, and the workings of a 
healthy conscience with those of one unnatural and 
morbid. 

There is a way however, much more appalling and much 
more real, in which this may be true, without resorting to 
any such fanciful hypothesis. Sin has a great power in 
this world : it gives laws like those of a sovereign, which 
bind us all, and to which we are all submissive. There 
are current maxims in Church and State, in society, in 
trade, in law, to which we yield obedience. For this 
obedience every one is responsible ; for instance, in trade, 
and in the profession of law, every one is the servant of 
practices the rectitude of which his heart can only half 
approve — every one complains of them, yet all are involved 
in them. Now, when such sins reach their climax, as in 
the case of national bankruptcy or an unjust acquittal, 
there may be some who are, in a special sense, the actors 
in the guilt ; but evidently, for the bankruptcy, each 
member of the community is responsible in that degree 
and so far as he himself acquiesced in the duplicities of 
public dealing ; every careless juror, every unrighteous 
judge, every false witness, has done his part in the reduc- 
tion of society to that state in which the monster injustice 
has been perpetrated. In the riot of a tumultuous assem- 
bly by night, a house may be burnt, or a murder com- 
mitted ; in the eye of the law, all who are aiding and 
abetting there are each in his degree responsible for that 
crime ; there may be difference in guilt, from the degree 
in which he is guilty who with his own hand perpetrated 
the deed, to that of him who merely joined the rabble 
from mischievous curiosity — degrees from that of wilful 



TO THE COBIXTHIAXS. 401 

murder to that of more or less excusable homicide. The 
Pharisees were declared by the Saviour to be guilty of the 
blood of Zacharias, the blood of righteous Abel, and of all 
the saints and prophets who fell before He came. But 
how were the Pharisees guilty? They built the sepul- 
chres of the prophets, they honoured and admired them : 
but they were guilty, in that they were the children of 
those that slew the prophets ; children in this sense, that 
they inherited their spirit, they opposed the good in the 
form in which it showed itself in their day just as their 
fathers opposed the form displayed to theirs ; therefore 
He said that they belonged to the same confederacy of 
evil, and that the guilt of the blood of all who had been 
slain should rest on that generation. Similarly we are 
guilty of the death of Christ. If you have been a false 
friend, a sceptic, a cowardly disciple, a formalist, selfish, 
and opposer of goodness, an oppressor, whatever evil you 
have done, in that degree and so far you participate in the 
evil to which the Just One fell a victim — you are one of 
that mighty rabble which cried, " Crucify Him, Crucify 
Him ; " for your sin He died ; His blood lies at your 
threshold. 

Again, He died for all, in that His sacrifice represents 
the sacrifice of all. We have heard of the doctrine of 
" imputed righteousness ; " it is a theological expression to 
which meanings foolish enough are sometimes attributed, 
but it contains a very deep truth, which it shall be our 
endeavour to elicit. 

Christ is the realized idea of our humanity. He is 
God's idea of man completed. There is every difference 
between the ideal and the actual — between what a man 

D D 



402 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

aims to be and what lie is ; a difference between the race 
as it is, and the race as it existed in God's creative idea 
when He pronounced it very good. 

In Christ, therefore, God beholds humanity ; in Christ 
He sees perfected every one in whom Christ's spirit exists 
in germ. He to whom the possible is actual, to whom 
what will be already is, sees all things present, gazes on the 
imperfect, and sees it in its perfection. Let me venture 
an illustration. He who has never seen the vegetable 
world except in Arctic regions, has but a poor idea of the 
majesty of vegetable life, — a microscopic red moss tinting 
the surface of the snow, a few stunted pines, and here and 
there perhaps a dwindled oak ; but to the botanist who has 
seen the luxuriance of vegetation in its tropical magnifi- 
cence, all that wretched scene presents another aspect ; 
to him those dwarfs are the representatives of what might 
be, nay, what has been in a kindlier soil and a more genial 
climate; he fills up by his conception the miserable ac- 
tuality presented by these shrubs, and attributes to them 
— imputes, that is, to them — the majesty of which the 
undeveloped germ exists already. Now, the difference 
between those trees seen in themselves, and seen in the 
conception of their nature's perfectness which has been 
previously realized, is the difference between man seen in 
himself and seen in Christ. We are feeble, dwarfish, 
stunted specimens of humanity. Our best resolves are 
but withered branches, our holiest deeds unripe and 
blighted fruit; but to the Infinite Eye, who sees in the 
perfect One the type and assurance of that which shall 
be, this dwindled humanity of ours is divine and glorious. 
Such are we in the sight of God the Father as is the very 



TO THE COEINTHIAXS. 403 

Son of God Himself. This is what theologians, at least 
the wisest of them, meant by ff imputed righteousness." I 
do not mean that all who have written or spoken on the 
subject had this conception of it, but I believe they who 
thought truly meant this ; they did not suppose that in 
imputing righteousness there was a kind of figment, a 
self-deception in the mind of God ; they did not mean 
that by an act of will He chose to consider that every 
act which Christ did was done by us ; that He imputed 
or reckoned to us the baptism in Jordan, and the victory 
in the wilderness, and the agony in the garden, or that 
He believed, or acted as if He believed, that when Christ 
died, each one of us died ; but He saw humanity sub- 
mitted to the law of self-sacrifice ; in the light of that idea 
He beholds us as perfect, and is satisfied. In this sense 
the apostle speaks of those that are imperfect, yet "by 
one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are 
sanctified." It is true, again, that He died for us, in that 
we present His sacrifice as ours. The value of the death 
of Christ consisted in the surrender of self-will. In the 
fortieth Psalm, the value of every other kind of sacrifice 
being first denied, the words follow, " then said I, Lo, I 
come, to do thy will, O God." The profound idea con- 
tained, therefore, in the death of Christ is the duty of 
self-surrender. 

But in us that surrender scarcely deserves the name ; 
even to use the word self-sacrifice covers us with a kind 
of shame. Then it is that there is an almost boundless 
joy in acquiescing in the life and death of Christ, recog- 
nizing it as ours, and representing it to ourselves and God 
as what we aim at. If we cannot understand how in 

D D 2 



404 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

this sense it can be a sacrifice for us, we may partly 
realize it by remembering the joy of feeling how art 
and nature realize for us what we cannot realize for 
ourselves. It is recorded of one of the world's gifted 
painters that he stood before the master-piece of the great 
genius of his age — one which he could never hope to 
equal, nor even rival — and yet the infinite superiority, 
so far from crushing him, only elevated his feeling, for he 
saw realized those conceptions which had floated before 
him, dim and unsubstantial ; in every line and touch he 
felt a spirit immeasurably superior, yet kindred, and is 
reported to have exclaimed, with dignified humility, " And 
I too am a painter ! " Or, again, we must all have felt, 
when certain effects in nature, combinations of form and 
colour, have been presented to us, our own idea speaking 
in intelligible and yet celestial language ; when, for in- 
stance, the long bars of purple, " edged with intolerable 
radiance," seemed to float in a sea of pale pure green, 
when the whole sky seemed to reel with thunder, when 
the night-wind moaned. It is wonderful how the most 
commonplace men and women, beings who, as you would 
have thought, had no conception that rose beyond a com- 
mercial speculation or a fashionable entertainment, are 
elevated by such scenes ; how the slumbering grandeur 
of their nature wakes and acknowledges kindred with the 
sky and storm. " I cannot speak," they would say, " the 
feelings which are in me ; I have had emotions, aspira- 
tions, thoughts; I cannot put them into words. Look 
there ! listen now to the storm ! That is what I meant, 
only I never could say it out till now." Thus do art and 
nature speak for us, and thus do we adopt them as our 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 405 

own. This is the way in which His righteousness becomes 
righteousness for us. This is the way in which the heart 
presents to God the sacrifice of Christ; gazing on that 
perfect Life, we, as it were, say, " There, that is my reli- 
gion — that is my righteousness — what I want to be, which 
I am not — that is my offering, my life as I would wish 
to give it, freely and not checked, entire and perfect." 
So the old prophets, their hearts big with unutterable 
thoughts, searched " what or what manner of time the 
spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it 
testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and of the 
glory which should follow ; " and so w T ith us, until it passes 
into prayer : " My Saviour, fill up the blurred and blotted 
sketch which my clumsy hand has drawn of a divine life, 
with the fulness of Thy perfect picture. I feel the beauty 
which I cannot realize: — robe me in Thine unutterable 
purity ! " 

II. The influence of that Sacrifice on man is the intro- 
duction of the principle of self-sacrifice into his nature, — 
" then were all dead." Observe again, not He died that 
we might not die, but that in His death we might be dead, 
and that in His sacrifice we might become each a sacrifice 
to God. Moreover, this death is identical with life. They 
who, in the first sentence, are called dead, are in the second 
denominated "they who live." So in another place, "I am 
crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live ; " death, therefore 
— that is, the sacrifice of self — is equivalent to life. Now, 
this rests upon a profound truth. The death of Christ was 
a representation of the life of God. To me this is the pro- 
foundest of all truths, that the whole of the life of God is 
ihe sacrifice of self. God is Love; love is sacrifice — to 



406 LECTUEES CN THE EPISTLES 

give rather than to receive—- the blessedness of self-giving. 
If the life of God were not such, it would be a falsehood 
to say that God is Love ; for, even in our human nature, 
that which seeks to enjoy all instead of giving all, is known 
by a very different name from that of love. All the life of 
God is a flow of this divine self-giving charity. Creation 
itself is sacrifice — the self-impartation of the divine Being. 
Redemption, too, is sacrifice, else it could not be love ; for 
which reason we will not surrender one iota of the truth 
that the death of Christ was the sacrifice of God — the 
manifestation once in time of that which is the eternal law 
of His life. 

If man, therefore, is to rise into the life of God, he must 
be absorbed into the spirit of that sacrifice — he must die 
with Christ if he would enter into his proper life. For sin 
is the withdrawing into self and egotism, out of the vivify- 
ing life of God, which alone is our true life. The moment 
the man sins he dies. Know we not how awfully true that 
sentence is, " Sin revived, and I died ? " The vivid life of 
sin is the death of the man. Have we never felt that our 
true existence has absolutely in that moment disappeared, 
and that ice are not ? 

I say, therefore, that real human life is a perpetual com- 
pletion and repetition of the sacrifice of Christ — " all are 
dead ; " the explanation of which follows, " to live not to 
themselves, but to Him who died for them and rose again." 
This is the truth which lies at the bottom of the Romish 
doctrine of the mass. Rome asserts that in the mass a true 
and proper sacrifice is offered up for the sins of all — that 
the offering of Christ is for ever repeated. To this Pro- 
testantism has objected vehemently, that there is but one 



TO THE COKINTHIAXS. 407 

offering once offered — an objection in itself entirely true ; 
yet the Romish doctrine contains a truth which it is of 
importance to disengage from the gross and material form 
with which it has been overlaid. Let us hear St. Paul, 
" I fill up that which is behindhand of the sufferings of 
'Christ, in my flesh, for His body's sake, which is the 
Church." Was there, then, something behindhand of 
Christ's sufferings remaining uncompleted, of which the 
sufferings of Paul could be in any sense the complement? 
He says there was. Could the sufferings of Paul for the 
Church in any form of correct expression be said to eke 
out the sufferings that were complete ? In one sense it is 
true to say that there is one offering once offered for all. 
But it is equally true to say that that one offering is value- 
less, except so far as it is completed and repeated in 
the life and self-offering of all. This is the Christian's 
sacrifice. ISTot mechanically completed in the miserable 
materialism of the mass, but spiritually in the life of all in 
whom the Crucified lives. The sacrifice of Christ is done 
over again in every life which is lived, not to self, but to 
God. 

Let one concluding observation be made — self-denial, 
self-sacrifice, self-surrender ! Hard doctrines, and im- 
possible ! Whereupon, in silent hours, we sceptically ask, 
Is this possible ? is it natural ? Let preacher and moralist 
say what they will, I am not here to sacrifice myself for 
others. God sent me here for happiness, not misery. 
Now introduce one sentence of this text of which we have 
as yet said nothing, and the dark doctrine becomes illumi- 
nated — "the love of Christ constraineth us." Self-denial, 
for the sake of self-denial, does no good ; self-sacrifice for 



408 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

its own sake is no religious act at all. If you give up a 
meal for the sake of showing power over self, or for the 
sake of self-discipline, it is the most miserable of all delu- 
sions. You are not more religious in doing this than 
before. This is mere self-culture, and self-culture being 
occupied for ever about self, leaves you only in that circle 
of self from which religion is to free you ; but to give up a 
meal that one you love may have it, is properly a religious 
act — no hard and dismal duty, because made easy by 
affection. To bear pain for the sake of bearing it has in it 
no moral quality at all, but to bear it rather than surrender 
truth, or in order to save another, is positive enjoyment 
as well as ennobling to the soul. Did you ever receive 
even a blow meant for another in order to shield that other? 
Do you not know that there was actual pleasure in the 
keen pain far beyond the most rapturous thrill of nerve 
which could be gained from pleasure in the midst of pain- 
lessness ? Is not the mystic yearning of love expressed in 
words most purely thus, Let me suffer for him ? 

This element of love is that which makes this doctrine 
an intelligible and blessed truth. So sacrifice alone, bare 
and unrelieved, is ghastly, unnatural, and dead ; but self- 
sacrifice, illuminated by love, is warmth and life ; it is the 
death of Christ, the life of God, the blessedness, and only 
proper life of man. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 409 



LECTURE XLV. 

December 12, 1852. 

2 Corinthians, v. 18-21. — " And all things are of God, who hath recon- 
ciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry 
of reconciliation; — To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the 
world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and 
hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. — Now then we 
are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: 
we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. — For he hath 
made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made 
the righteousness of God in him." 

The last verses on which we spoke declared the Christian 
aspect of human nature, and the law of regenerated 
Humanity. The aspect of Humanity in Christ is a new 
creation: in Him human nature is re-created (v. 17). 
Consequently, every one is to be looked at now, not merely 
as a man, but as a brother in Christ. No man is to be 
known now any more after the flesh. A more striking in- 
stance of this is not to be found than the way in which 
Philemon was desired by St. Paul to consider Onesimus 
his slave. The "middle wall of partition" has been broken 
down for ever between Jew and Gentile, between class 
and class. 

The law of Humanity in Christ is, that "they which 
live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto 
Him which died for them," (v. 15). Such is the Christian 
law of sacrifice : to present our bodies and souls to Christ 



410 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

as a living offering. It is no longer the law of nature which 
rules our life, no longer self-preservation, self-indulgence ; 
but it is self-surrender towards God and towards man. 

We come now to another subject, and the connection 
between it and the former is contained in the eighteenth 
verse. All this, says St. Paul, arises out of the recon- 
ciliation effected between God and man by Christ. 

First, then, we will speak of Christ's work — the recon- 
ciliation of God to man. 

Secondly, the work of the Christian ministry — the re- 
conciliation of man to God. 

I. God a hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus 
Christ." Now reconciliation is identical with atonement. 
In Romans, v. n, the word "atonement" occurs, but on 
referring to the margin you will find that it is the same 
word which is here translated "reconciliation." Here, there- 
fore, you might read : " Who hath atoned us to Himself by 
Jesus Christ." We cannot repeat this too often. The 
"atonement" of the Bible is the reconciliation between 
God and man. 

Now atonement or reconciliation consists of two things : 
— 1. The reconciliation of God to the world. 2. The re- 
conciliation of the world to God. 

1. We say that God needed a reconciliation. On the 
other hand, the Unitarian view is, that God requires 
nothing to reconcile Him to us, that He is reconciled 
already, that the only thing requisite is to reconcile man 
to God. It also declares that there is no wrath in God 
toward sinners, for punishment does not manifest indig- 
nation. Nothing can be more false, unphilosophical, and 
unscriptural. First of all, take one passage, which is 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 411 

decisive: "But now after that ye know God, or rather 
are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and 
beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in 
bondage?" St. Paul is there describing the Christian 
state, and he declares that the being recognized of God 
is more characteristic of the Gospel state than recognizing 
God. " Know God :" here is man reconciled to God. 
* Are known of Him :" here is God reconciled to man. 
St. Paul holds it a more adequate representation of the 
Gospel to say, Ye are known of God, that is, God is recon- 
ciled to you — than to say, Ye know God, that is, ye are 
reconciled to God. So much for those persons who recog- 
nize the authority of Scripture, and assert at the same 
time that it does not speak of an Atonement which recon- 
ciles God to man. 

Next, it is perilous to explain away, as a mere figure of 
speech, those passages which speak of God as angry with 
sin. God is angry with the wicked, and the first proof of 
this is to be drawn from our own conscience. We feel 
that God is angry ; and if that be but figurative, then it 
is only figurative to say that God is pleased. There must 
be some deep truth in those expressions, or else we lose the 
personality of God. 

2. The second proof comes to us from the character of 
Christ. He was the representative of God : of God under 
the limitations of Humanity. Now Christ was "angry" 
That, therefore, which God feels corresponds with that 
which in pure Humanity is the emotion of anger. No 
other word, then, will adequately represent God's feeling, 
but the human word anger. If we explain away such 
words, we lose the distinction between right and wrong : 



412 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

we lose belief in God : for you will end in believing there 
is no God at all, if you begin with explaining away His 
feelings. 

Again, it is said that God needs no reconciliation, 
because He is immutable. But remember that, God 
remaining immutable and the sinner changing, God's 
relation to the sinner changes. " God is Love," but love 
to good is hatred to evil. If you are evil, then God is 
your enemy. You change God by being changed yourself. 
You thus alter the relation ; and hence St. James says, 
te Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you." 

Now the way in which the text speaks of the reconcilia- 
tion of God to us is, " Not imputing their trespasses :" 
for the Atonement is made when God no longer reckons 
the sinner guilty. Here is the mystery of the Atonement. 
God is reconciled to men for Christ's sake. Earnestly I 
insist that the Atonement is through Christ. God is recon- 
ciled to Humanity in Christ ; then to us through Him : 
" God was in Christ." It was a Divine Humanity. To 
that Humanity God is reconciled : there could be no 
enmity between God and Christ : " I and my Father 
are One." To all those in whom Christ's Spirit is, God 
imputes the righteousness which is as yet only seminal, 
germinal : a seed, not a tree ; a spring, not a river : an 
aspiration, not an attainment ; a righteousness in faith, 
not a righteousness in works. It is not, then, an actual 
righteousness, but an imputed righteousness. Hence we see 
what is meant by saying, "reconciled or atoned through 
Christ." We do not mean that each man reconciles him- 
self as Christ did, by being righteous ; but we mean 
that God views him favourably as partaking of that 



TO TEE CORINTHIANS. 413 

Humanity which has been once exhibited on earth a 
Holy, Perfect, and Divine thing. " God was in Christ, 
reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their 
trespasses unto them." 

But we must distinguish this from a vulgar notion of 
the Atonement. Some use it as meaning appeasal, not 
reconciliation; not that the All Holy One was reconciled 
to Humanity by seeing in it His own image, and received 
full satisfaction by beholding the perfect sacrifice of the 
Will of the Man to the Will of God; but that not 
having taken out the full satisfaction of punishment in 
one place, He was content to do it in the other. Jus- 
tice, they say, must strike ; and if He can strike the 
innocent, it is richer satisfaction of justice than striking 
the guilty. Strange justice ! Unjust to let the guilty go 
free, but quite just to punish the innocent ! So mourn- 
fully do we deface Christianity! It is singular that the 
Romanists have a similar perversion. There are pictures 
which represent the Virgin as interposing between the 
world and her angry Son ; laying bare her maternal 
bosom by way of appeal, and the Son yielding that to His 
mother's entreaty which He would not do for Love. What 
the Virgin is to the Romanist, that is Christ to some 
Protestants. Observe that, according to both opinions, 
there are two distinct Beings, one full of Wrath, the other 
fall of Mercy. Those Romanists make Christ the Person 
of fury, and Mary the Person of mercy. Some Protestants 
represent God the Father as the wrathful Being, and 
Christ as the Loving One. But the principle in both 
views is the same. 

No ! tins text contradicts that notion. It was not Christ 



414 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

appeasing His Father's wrath, but His Father descend- 
ing into Humanity through Him ; and so, by taking the 
manhood into God, reconciling the world unto Himself. 
" God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself." 
It was God's Infinite Love which redeemed the world, and 
not God's fury which was appeased. God created a Divine 
Humanity, and so changing the relation between man and 
Himself, reconciled Himself to man. And this Divine 
Humanity sacrificed itself for us. It was a vicarious sacri- 
fice. The sacrifice of Christ was the meritorious cause of 
our acceptance. What was there in it which satisfied God ? 
Was it the punishment inflicted ? No ! It was the free 
offering of Christ's Will even unto death. " Therefore 
doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life for 
the sheep." 

II. The work of the Christian ministry — the reconcilia- 
tion of man to God. 

Now distinguish Christ's position from ours. It was 
Christ's work to reconcile God to man. That is done, 
and done for ever ; we cannot add anything to it. That 
is a priestly power ; and it is at our peril that we claim 
such a power. Ours is ministerial : His alone was priestly. 
We cannot infuse supernatural virtue into baptismal water; 
w T e cannot transform bread and wine into heavenly aliment. 
We can offer no sacrifice: the concluding sacrifice is done. 
"By one offering He hath perfected for ever them that 
are sanctified." So far, then, as we represent anything 
besides this as necessary, so far do we frustrate it, and 
turn the Christian ministry into a sacrificial priesthood. 
We are doing as did the Galatians of old. 

Therefore the whole work of the Christian ministry 



TO THE CORIXTHIANS. 415 

consists in declaring; God as reconciled to man: and in 
beseeching with, every variety of illustration, and every 
degree of earnestness, men to become reconciled to God. 
It is this which is not done. All are God's Children by 
right; all are not God's children in fact. All are sons of 
God ; but all have not the Spirit of sons, (i whereby they 
cry, Abba, Father." All are redeemed, all are not yet 
sanctified. 



416 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 



LECTURE XLVL 

December 19, 1852. 

2 Corinthians, vi. 1-10. — "We then, as workers together with him, 
beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. — 
(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of 
salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; 
behold, now is the day of salvation.) — Giving no offence in anything, 
that the ministry be not blamed: — But in all things approving our- 
selves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in 
necessities, in distresses, — In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in 
labours, in watchings, in fastings; — By pureness, by knowledge, by 
long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, — 
By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of 
righteousness on the right hand and on the left, — By honour and 
dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet 
true; — As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we 
live; as chastened, and not killed; — As sorrowful, yet al way rejoic- 
ing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet pos- 
sessing all things." 

The last chapter closed with the subject of Reconciliation. 
It declared that the atonement between God and man 
consisted of two parts : God atoned to man by the work 
of Christ ; man atoned to God by the work of the Christian 
ministry. For the work of the Christian minister pre- 
supposes the work of Christ ; and his message is, " God is 
reconciled to you, be ye reconciled to God." In this sixth 
chapter, St. Paul proceeds with this ministry of reconcilia- 
tion. We will consider — 

I. His appeal. 

II. The grounds of that appeal. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 417 

I. St. Paul's appeal was, " that ye receive not the grace 
of God in vain." The grace of God. Grace is favour, and 
the particular grace here spoken of is the reconciliation 
of God in Christ (vv. 14 — 19). That Christ died for 
all, and that God is reconciled to all — this is the state 
of Grace. Now the word grace being exclusively a 
Scriptural one, is often misunderstood, and seems myste- 
rious : it is supposed to be a mystical something infused 
into the soul. But grace is only God's favour; and a 
state of grace is the state in which all men are, who 
have received the message of salvation which declares 
God's goodwill towards them. So speaks St. Paul in 
the Epistle to the Romans. The Corinthians had re- 
ceived this grace ; they were baptized into the name of 
God the Father, and Christ the Son. They were told 
that God was their Father and their Friend. Now we 
shall understand what St. Paul meant by beseeching them 
not to receive that grace in vain. It was a question once 
discussed with great theological vehemence, whether men 
who had once been recipients of grace could fall from it 
finally and irrevocably. Some replied warmly that they 
can, while others, with equal pertinacity, affirmed that it 
was impossible. Part of the cause of this disagreement 
may be taken away by agreeing on the meaning of the 
word grace. By grace some meant the Spirit of God, and 
they held that the soul which has once become one with 
God is His for ever. Undoubtedly this has the sanction 
of Scripture in various forms of expression. For example, 
" Fear not, little flock ; for it is your Father's good pleasure 
to give you the kingdom : " "I give unto them eternal 
life ; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man 

E E 



418 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

pluck them out of my hand." Again: "No man is able 
to pluck them out of my Father's hand : " " While I was 
with them in the world, I kept them in thy name : those 
that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, 
hut the son of perdition : " " Whom he did predestinate, 
them he also called ; and whom he called, them he also 
justified : and whom he justified, them he also glorified." 
We cannot read these passages without perceiving that 
there is an inner circle of men in the Kingdom of Grace, 
in whom God's* Spirit dwells, who are one with God, in 
whom His Holy Ghost is a well of water springing up 
into everlasting Life, — " the general assembly and church 
of the first-born, which are written in heaven." 

On the other hand, by grace some meant that state in 
which all Christians are, as redeemed from the world 
by Christ's blood, called to be saints, and to whom the 
high privileges of God's church are revealed. Now it is 
unquestionable that not all who are recipients of that 
grace, and redeemed into that mercy, will be saved. 
This first verse itself implies that they may receive the 
grace of God in vain. So says Christ : " Every branch 
in me that beareth not fruit is hewn down and cast into 
the fire." Remember, too, the parable of the fig-tree in the 
vineyard, which was unfruitful and was sentenced. Again, 
such exhortations as " Quench not the Spirit," imply that 
He may be quenched. And such warnings as these, " It is 
impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have 
tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of 
the Holy Ghost, if they shall fall away, to renew them 
again unto repentance : " and again, " He that despised 
Moses' law died without mercy. Of how much sorer 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 419 

punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who 
hath trodden under foot the Son of God ? " — prove that 
this grace received may yet he received hi vain. These are 
very awful passages, and they prove at least that if there 
be those in whom the Love of God is a perennial fountain 
of spiritual strength, yet there are also those to whom all 
the promises have been made in unfeigned sincerity, who 
have professed religion with warmth — nay, who in Christ's 
name have done many wonderful works — and yet to whom 
He shall declare at the last, " I never knew you." So 
near may we approach to the Kingdom of God, and yet 
come short of attaining it ! 

II. The grounds of the Apostle's appeal : — 
1. The thought that the time of grace is limited. 
St. Paul quotes from Isaiah : — " I have heard thee in a 
time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured 
thee." Observe the principle on which this prophecy 
is quoted. Prophecy records the principle of God's deal- 
ings. Now here was a precedent, declaring the limitation 
of the time during which grace is open; and St. Paul 
applying it, says, "Now:" just such a limited moment 
as there was in Isaiah's day, the same is now. Let us 
dwell upon this thought — that there is a day of grace : 
for example, the respite before the Flood: "My spirit 
shall not always strive with man : yet his days shall be 
an hundred and twenty years." There was then a space 
allowed for repentance. Again, to Nineveh was given a 
respite of forty days. A year's grace was allotted to the 
fig-tree in the parable. Jerusalem, too, had such a day : 
" If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, 
the things which belong unto thy peace : " but then her 

E E 2 



420 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

day of grace was past; her day of blindness had come. 
Now that which is declared of the world before the Flood, 
of Nineveh, of the fig-tree, of Jerusalem, is the history 
of each separate soul. Every man has his day of grace : 
what in vulgar English we should call his ( chance.' 
There comes to each man a crisis in his destiny, when 
evil influences have been removed, or some strong im- 
pression made — after an illness, or an escape, or in some 
season of solitary thoughtfulness or disappointment. It 
were an awful thing to watch such a spirit, if we knew 
that he is on the trial now, by which his everlasting 
destiny is to be decided ! It were more awful still to see 
a man who has passed the time of grace, and reached the 
time of blindness : and to know that the light is quenched 
for ever, that he will go on as before, and live many years, 
and play his part in life, but that the Spirit of God will 
come back to that soul no more for ever ! 

2. The second ground on which St. Paul urged his 
appeal was the earnest affectionateness of his own 
ministry. He appealed on the ground of the work of 
Christ, and on the ground of the work of those who were 
co-operators with Christ : " We, then, as workers together 
with Him, beseech you" — (v. 1). This appeal is followed 
up by an account of his conduct as a fellow-worker: 
" Giving no offence in anything, that the ministry be not 
blamed " — (vi. 3, 4), which again is succeeded by that 
glorious and touching description of ministerial devoted- 
ness which no Christian can read without humiliation. It 
was the unexaggerated picture of a human life actually 
lived out in this selfish world of ours ! Upon this I make 
two observations : — 



TO THE COEINTHIANS. 421 

First : The true return for ministerial devotedness is a 
life given to God. St. Paul details the circumstances of 
his own rare ministry, and he asks, in return, not the 
affection of the Corinthians, nor their admiration, but 
this : that they ei receive not the grace of God in vain :" 
and again (v. 13), "Now for a recompence in the same 
.... be ye also enlarged." To all human hearts affec- 
tion is dear, and respect and veneration precious. But 
none of these things is true payment. Hence St. Paul 
says : " Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed 
for, my joy and croivn, so stand fast in the Lord." And 
again he says : " As also ye have acknowledged us in 
part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are our's 
in the day of the Lord Jesus." And St. John, in his 
Second Epistle, writes: "I rejoiced greatly that I found of 
thy children walking in truth;" and again, in his Third 
Epistle, he says to Gaius: "I have no greater joy than 
to hear that my children walk in truth." This, I do not 
say is, but ought to be, the spirit of every minister of 
Christ : to feel that nothing can reward him for such efforts 
as he may have been permitted to make — nothing, except 
the grace of God received, and life moulded in accordance 
with it. No deference, no love, no enthusiasm manifested 
for him, can make up for this. Ear beyond all evil or 
good report, his eye ought to be fixed on one thing — 
God's truth and the reception of it. 

Secondly : The true apostolical succession. Much has 
been said and written to prove the ministers of the Church 
to be lineally descended from the Apostles ; and, further, 
to prove that none but they are commissioned to preach 
God's word, to administer God's sacraments, or to convey 



422 LECTURES ON THE EriSTLES 

the grace of Christ. We do not dispute this : we rather 
admit and assert it. For purposes of order, the Church 
requires a lineal succession ; that is, authority delegated 
"by those who have authority. But this is a poor line of 
succession — to take the outward descent as all, and to 
consider the inward as nothing. It is the same mis- 
take that the Jews made in tracing their descent from 
Abraham's person, and forgetting their spiritual descent 
from Abraham's Father. Now the grounds of apostle- 
ship alleged here are all spiritual ; none are external. 
Again, in the twelfth chapter of this Epistle St. Paul 
says : " Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought 
among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and 
mighty deeds." Thus St. Paul does not graft his right of 
appeal on any proud, priestly assumption, but on an inward 
likeness to Christ. Therefore, the true apostolical succes- 
sion is and must be a spiritual one. The power of God 
is not conveyed by physical contact, but by the reception 
of a Spirit. He is a true minister who is one from 
sharing in the spirit of an Apostle, not from the ordina- 
tion and descent from an Apostle. True, there is a suc- 
cession. The mind of Christ, as set forth in His Apostles, 
acts on other minds, whether by ideas or character, and 
produces likeness to itself. Love begets love ; faith gene- 
rates faith ; lofty lives nourish the germs of exalted life 
in others. There is a spiritual birth. John was the suc- 
cessor of the spirit of Elias. Luther was the offspring 
of the mind of Paul. We are children of Abraham if we 
share in the faith of Abraham ; we are the successors of 
the Apostles if we have a spirit similar to theirs. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 423 



LECTURE XLVIL 

December 26, 1852. 

2 CoKiXTniAXS, vi. 11-18. — " ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto 
you, our heart is enlarged. — Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are 
straitened in your own bowels. — Now for a recompence in the same, 
(I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged. — Be ye not 
unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath 
righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light 
with darkness? — And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what 
part hath he that believeth with an infidel? — And what agreement 
hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living 
God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and 
I will be their God, and they shall be my people. — "Wherefore come 
out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch 
not the unclean tiling; and I will receive you, — And will be a Father 
unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord 
Almighty." 

In our last lecture we saw that St. Paul, after explaining the 
grace of God to a world reconciled in Christ, had besought 
the Corinthians not to receive that grace in vain. For a 
passage in Isaiah assured them that it might be in vain : it 
announced the awful truth that there is such a thing as a 
day of grace, and that that day is limited. Accordingly, 
as an ambassador first, and then as a fellow-worker with 
God, in which capacity he enumerates his sufferings and 
labours, St. Paul entreats them not to receive that grace 
in vain. In the close of this chapter, he expresses more 
definitely his meaning. For a general entreaty to become 
a Christian is vague. Sanctification is made up of many 



424 LECTUEES ON THE EPISTLES 

particulars. To use the grace of God, is a duty composed 
of various branches. Two of these are chiefly dwelt on 
here. The duty of separation from the world, and of 
purification from evil. 

To-day we shall only consider the former. 

I. The exuberance of apostolic affection. 
II. The recompence desired. 

I. The Apostle's affection overflows in an exuberant 
apostrophe : (f O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto 
you, our heart is enlarged" (v. 11). His love was deep, 
and this flow of eloquence arose out of the expansion of 
his heart. But, in explaining this, we take the second 
clause first, as the former is the result of the latter. 

First : " Our heart is enlarged." Now what makes this 
remark wonderful in the Apostle's mouth is, that St. Paul 
had received a multitude of provocations from the Corin- 
thians. They had denied the truthfulness of his ministry, 
charged him with interested motives, sneered at his man- 
ner, and held up to scorn the meanness of his appearance. 
In the face of this his heart expands ! — partly with com- 
passion. Their insults and haughty tone only impressed 
him with a sense of their need, with the feeling of their 
wandering ignorance. They were his " children." How 
could he resent even unmerited reproach from them, 
hound as they were to him by so dear a tie? He had 
suffered for them : He pardoned them, for they did it 
ignorantly. His spirit sought for them the only excuse 
it could. Thus spoke before him One who loved even 
more than he ; for the same thought occurs in the dying 
words of Christ : " Father, forgive them, for they know 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 425 

not what they do." How worthy a successor of his 
Master's spirit ! How generous ! What a well-spring of 
Love, inexhaustible in its freshness as in its life ! And 
this is the true test of gracious charity. Does the heart 
expand or narrow as life goes on ? If it narrows, if mis- 
conception or opposition wither love, be sure that that 
love had no root. If love is slam by injury, or even 
enmity, was it love in its truest sense ? " If ye love them 
which love you, what reward have ye? do not even 
the publicans the same ?" And this love is given to 
all, partly from looking on all as immortal souls in 
Christ. The everlasting principle within makes all the 
difference. For it is not the mere instinct of lovingness 
which makes the Christian : — to love the soul in Christ, 
imputing righteousness to it as God does, knowing the 
powers it has in it to produce good — feeling what it 
should be, and what it may become, and loving it as 
Christ loved it — this is the Christian charity. Hold fast 
to love. If men wound your heart, let them not sour or 
embitter it ; let them not shut up or narrow it ; let them 
only expand it more and more, and be able always to 
say with St. Paul, " My heart is enlarged." 

Secondly. St. Paul's eloquence : " Our mouth is open 
unto you." He might have shut his lips, and in dignified 
pride refused to plead his own cause. But instead, he 
speaks his thoughts aloud — freely, not cautiously; and, 
like Luther in after times, lays his whole heart open to 
view. This he does in words which, even though a trans- 
lation, and that translation from a language which was 
not the Apostle's own, stirs the soul within us. " Out 
of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." Be 



426 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES 

sure that a man who speaks so, has nothing to conceal. 
St. Paul had no after-thought, no reservation in his life 
or on his lips : he was a genuine man, true in the inner- 
most recesses of his spirit. 

II. The recompence desired. 

He asked for the enlargement of their heart towards 
him : which was to be shown in separation from the world. 
This is always a difficult subject, yet it is the only true 
recompence of ministerial work. Now, in explaining any 
passage of Scripture, two things have to be done: first, 
to put ourselves in possession of the circumstances under 
which the words were spoken, to endeavour to realize the 
society, persons, feelings, and customs of the body of men, 
and of the time, to whom and in which the passage was 
addressed ; secondly, to discern in what point and prin- 
ciples the passage corresponds with our circumstances. 
For otherwise we misinterpret Scripture, misled by words 
and superficial resemblances. This is what Christ meant 
in His description of the wise Scribe, who " brings out of 
his treasures things new and old." For the great office 
of the expounder is to adapt old principles to new circum- 
stances, and to read the present through the past. 

First, then, let us comprehend the words and the cir- 
cumstances to which they applied. We take the passage, 
"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." 
Here the metaphor is drawn from two ill-matched animals 
dragging the same vehicle or plough : two animals of dif- 
ferent sizes or tempers, who pull either different ways or 
with different degrees of speed. The plain import, then, 
of the figurative expression is — Separate from the unbe- 
lievers, avoid close intimacy with. them. " Come out from 



TO THE COKIXTHIAKS. 427 

among them, and be ye separate, saitli the Lord, and 
touch not the unclean thing." 

Next, let ns consider the circumstances. Bear in mind 
what we learnt in the First Epistle: — one of the great 
parties at Corinth was the party of "liberty." They knew 
the freeness of Christ's Gospel ; they understood that the 
distinction of days was done away with, that there was 
no difference between clean and unclean meats, that flesh 
offered to idols was not polluted. They comprehended 
that all the Jewish ceremonial holiness was but typical, 
and that the separateness of " touch not, taste not, handle 
not," was done away with. Now the danger which these 
persons incurred was, that, breaking down every barrier, 
they left nothing between themselves and evil. They 
prided themselves on their liberty, they went to idol feasts, 
they treated Saturday like Monday, they mixed freely 
with the world. Apparently, they were not even afraid 
to marry with the heathen; and in this daring admix- 
ture, and unrestrained indulgence in all things permitted, 
they ran the risk of gradually imbibing the spirit and 
temper of the world of evil with which they mingled. 
Accordingly, " Be ye not unequally yoked," meant, " Be- 
ware of sharing in the vices and corruption of the 
heathen." 

Secondly, let us consider how to apply this injunction to 
our own times. Clearly the letter of the command is in- 
applicable: for in two points, at least, the parallel does 
not hold. First, heathen feasts do not exist among us. 
In the days of the Apostle they were connected with abo- 
minable profligacy. And again, there is no sharp and 
marked distinction now, as there was then, between those 



428 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

who are, and those who are not, on the side of Christ. 
At that time baptism severed mankind into two great 
bodies, the world and the Church. But now, all being 
baptized, the command, " Be ye not unequally yoked with 
unbelievers," cannot mean the same thing as it did then. 
Therefore, only the spirit of the injunction can be ap- 
plied to us. We may discern this from considering the 
grounds and reasons of the prohibition. Independent of 
the impossibility of agreement in the deepest sympathies, 
independent of there being no identity of tastes, no iden- 
tity of antipathies, there were two strong grounds for this 
command. 

1. The first ground was Immorality: (: What fellowship 
hath righteousness with unrighteousness?" In England 
we are an inconsistent people. A rigid barrier exists be- 
tween class and class, and is almost never broken, except 
in two instances : wealth and talent break it down. Let 
a man amass enormous wealth, and he will find at his 
board the noblest in the land. It matters not that he 
became rich in some questionable way, that shrewd sus- 
picions are entertained of foul practices and unfair means : 
no one asks about that. Again, talent of a certain class 
— that talent which amuses — breaks down the rigid line 
of demarcation. The accomplished man or woman who, 
though notoriously profligate, can wile away an even- 
ing, is tolerated — nay, courted — even in the Christian 
drawing-room. Now, understand me, I do not say that 
the breaking down of conventional barriers is undesirable. 
If goodness did it — if a man, low in birth, were admired 
because of his virtues — oh ! it would be well for this land 
of ours ! But where wealth and talent, irrespective of 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 429 

goodness, alone possess the key to unlock our English 
exclusiveness, there plainly the apostolic injunction holds, 
because the reason of it holds : " What fellowship hath 
righteousness with unrighteousness?" Separate, then, cut 
yourself adrift from the profligate man of wealth, from the 
immoral man of talent. If you must have dealing w T ith 
them, let it be only in the way of business ; but no inti- 
macy, no friendship with them should be yours. 

2. The second ground was Irreligion : " What part 
hath he that believeth with an infidel?" There is much 
danger, however, in applying this law. It is perilous 
work when men begin to decide who are believers and 
who are not, if they decide by party badges. A man 
worships in a certain congregation, is taught by a certain 
minister, does not subscribe to certain societies; where- 
upon by that which arrogates to itself the title of the 
" religious world," he is at once pronounced an unbeliever, 
and not a Christian. This spirit besets our age, it is rife 
in this town, and demands the earnest protest of lip and 
life from every true man. For nothing more surely eats 
out the heart of religion, which is love, than this spirit of 
religious exclusiveness, and of judging others. Nothing 
more surely brings out the natural, innate popery of the 
heart. Better, far better than this, is it to risk the charge, 
falsely brought, w T hich Christ endured, of being worldly, 
" a friend of publicans and sinners." Nevertheless, there 
is an irreligion which " he who runs may read." For 
the atheist is not merely he who professes unbelief, but, 
strictly speaking, every one who lives without God in the 
world. And the heretic is not merely he who has mis- 
taken some Christian doctrine, but rather he who causes 



430 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

divisions among the brethren. And the idolater is not 
merely he who worships images, bnt he who gives his 
heart to something which is less than God; for a man's 
god is that which has his whole sonl and worship, that 
which he obeys and reverences as his highest. Now 
there are innumerable doubtful cases where charity is 
bound to hope for the best ; but there is also abundance of 
plain cases : for where a man's god is money, or position 
in society, or rank, there the rule holds, u Come ye apart." 
This, then, is the spirit of the passage: — A law 
holds wherever the reason of it holds. Wherever union 
in the highest cannot be, wherever idem velle, atque idem 
nolle, is impossible, there friendship and intimate partner- 
ship must not be tried. One word, however, as to the 
mode of this separation. It is not to be attained by an 
affectation of outward separateness. The spirit of vanity 
and worldly pride is not avoided by the outward plain- 
ness of Quakerism. Beneath the Quaker's sober, un- 
worldly garb, there may be the canker of the love of gain ; 
and beneath the guise of peace there may be the combative 
spirit which is worse than War. Nor can you get rid of 
worldliness by placing a ban on particular places of enter- 
tainment, and particular societies. The World is a spirit 
rather than a form ; and just as it is true that wherever 
two or three are met together in His name, God is in the 
midst of them, so if your heart is at one with His Spirit, 
you may, in the midst of worldly amusements — yet not 
without great danger, for you will have multiplied temp- 
tations — keep yourself unspotted from the World. 



TO THE COKINTHIANS. 431 



LECTURE XLVIII. 

January 2, 1853. 

2 Corinthians, vii. 1. — " Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, 
let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, per- 
fecting holiness in the fear of God." 

The recompence which St. Paul asked in return for his 
exuberant affection towards the Corinthians, was defined in 
our last lecture in two particulars : 1. Separation from 
the world. 2. Separation from all uncleanness. These 
were to he his reward ; it was these the Apostle longed 
for. It was not affection for himself that he desired, but 
devotion to God. We took the first part last Sunday, — 
unworldliness, or separation from the world. To-day we 
will consider the second part of the recompence he asked, — 
Personal Purification. 

First, then, as to the ground of the request : c: Having 
these promises." Now these promises are : the In-dwelling 
of God ; His free reception of us ; His Fatherhood and our 
sonship : and they are contained in the sixteenth, seven- 
teenth, and eighteenth verses of the sixth chapter. But, 
first, observe the Gospel principle of action: it is not, 
Separate yourself from all uncleanness in order that you 
may get a right of sonship; but, Because ye are sons of 
God, therefore be pure. It is not, Work in order to be 
saved ; but, Because vou are saved, therefore work out 



432 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

your salvation. It is not, Labour that you may be ac- 
cepted ; but, Labour, because you are accepted in the 
Beloved. Christian action advances from the right of the 
sonship to the fact of sonship, and not vice versa. In other 
words : Ye are the sons of God : here are God's promises ; 
therefore become what you are reckoned to be : let the 
righteousness which is imputed to you become righteous- 
ness in you. " Ye are the temple of God :" therefore 
cleanse yourself. God is your Father, therefore be pure. 
Thus we see that St. Paul first lays down Christian privi- 
leges, and then demands Christian action ; and in this the 
mode of the Law is reversed. The Law says : " This do, 
and thou shalt live." The Gospel says : " This do, because 
thou art redeemed." We are to work, not in order to win 
life, but because life is already given. Only so far as we 
teach this principle, do we teach Christ's Gospel : it is 
salvation by grace, salvation by free grace, salvation by 
sovereign grace : it is God's favour freely given, without 
money and without price ; not for worth, or goodness, or 
merit of ours. So speaks St. Paul : " After that the kind- 
ness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, 
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but 
according to His mercy He saved us." 

We all know the power and force of this kind of 
appeal. You know there are some things a soldier will 
not do, because he is a soldier : he is in uniform, and he 
cannot disgrace his corps. There are some things of 
which a man of high birth and lineage is incapable : a 
long line of ancestry is a guarantee for his conduct : he 
has a character to sustain. Precisely on this ground is 
the Gospel appeal made to us. Ye are priests and kings 



TO THE COEINTHTANS. 433 

to God ; will you forget your office, and fall from your 
kingship ? Shall an heir of glory disgrace his heavenly 
lineage ? Ye are God's temple, in which He dwells : will 
you pollute tJiat? Observe on what strong grounds we 
stand when we appeal to men as having been baptized. 
St. Paul spoke to all the Corinthians as being the Temple 
of God. Now, if baptism were a magical ceremony, or 
if it were a conditional blessing, so that a baptized child 
were only God's child hypothetically, how could I appeal 
to this eonoreo-ation ? But since I am certain and sure, 
that every man whom I address is God's child, that his 
baptism declared a fact which already existed, and that 
he is a recipient of God's loving influences, I, as Christ's 
minister, can and must say : " Having, therefore, these 
promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from 
all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness 
in the fear of God." I can say to every one of you : 
ce Ye are the temple of God, therefore keep God's dwelling 
pure." 

Secondly, let us consider the request itself. St. Paul de- 
manded their holiness, that is, their separation from impu- 
rity ; for holiness, or sanctification, meant, in the Jewish 
language, separation. In Jewish literalness, it meant 
separation from external defilement. But the thing im- 
plied by this typical separation was that inward holiness 
of which St. Paul here speaks. We must keep ourselves 
apart, then, not only from sensual, but also from spiritual 
defilement. The Jewish law required only the purification 
of the flesh ; the Gospel, which is the inner spirit of 
the Law, demands the purification of the spirit. The 
distinction is made in the Epistle to the Hebrews : " For 

F F 



434 LECTUEES ON THE EPISTLES 

if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an 
heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctineth to the purify- 
ing of the flesh : How much more shall the blood of 
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself 
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead 
works to serve the living God?" Concerning the former, 
I will say but little now. There is a contamination which 
passes through the avenue of the senses, and sinks into the 
spirit. Who shall dislodge it thence ? " Hear," said 
Christ, " and understand : Not that which goeth into the 
mouth defileth a man ; but that which cometh out of the 
mouth, this defileth a man." " For out of the heart pro- 
ceed evil thoughts." The heart — the heart — there is the 
evil ! The imagination, which was given to spiritualize 
the senses, is often turned into a means of sensualizing the 
spirit. Beware of reverie, and indulgence in forbidden 
images, unless you would introduce into your bosom a 
serpent, which will creep, and crawl, and leave the venom 
of its windings in your heart. 

And now what is the remedy for this ? — How shall we 
avoid evil thoughts ? First : By the fear of God — " Our 
God is a consuming fire." Compare with this : " For the 
Tvord of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any 
two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder 
of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a 
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." An 
awful thought! a Living God, infinitely pure, is con- 
scious of your contaminated thoughts ! So the only true 
courage sometimes comes from fear. We cannot do 
without awe: there is no depth of character without it. 
Tender motives are not enough to restrain from sin ; vet 



TO THE CORDTTHIANS. 435 

awe is not enough. Love and Hope will keep us strong 
against passion, as they kept our Saviour strong in suffer- 
ing, "who for the joy that was set before Him endured 
the cross, despising the shame." 

Secondly : By the promises of God. Think of what vou 
are — a child of God, an heir of Heaven. Realize the gran- 
deur of saintliness, and vou will shrink from degrading 
your soul and debasing your spirit. It is in reading saintly 
lives that we are ashamed of grovelling desires. To come 
down, however, from these sublime motives to simple rules, 
I say, first of all, then, cultivate all generous and high 
feelings. A base appetite may be expelled by a nobler 
passion ; the invasion of a country has sometimes waked 
men from low sensuality, has roused them to deeds of 
self-sacrifice, and left no access for the baser passions. 
An honourable affection can quench low and indiscrimi- 
nate vice. (i This I say, then, Walk in the spirit, and ye 
shall not fulfil the lusrs of the flesh." I say, secondly, 
Seek exercise and occupation. If a man finds himself 
haunted by evil desires and unholy images, which will 
generally be at periodical hours, let him commit to 
memory passages of Scripture, or passages from the best 
writers in verse or prose. Let him store his mind with 
these, as safeguards to repeat when he lies awake in some 
restless night, or when despairing imaginations, or gloomy, 
suicidal thoughts, beset him. Let these be to him the 
sword, turning everywhere to keep the way of the Garden 
of Life from the intrusion of profaner footsteps. 

Lastly : Observe the entireness of this severance from 
evil — " perfecting holiness." Perfection means, then, entire- 
ness, in opposition to one-sidedness. This is plain from 

F F 2 



436 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

many passages of Scripture. Thus: "Be ye therefore 
perfect, even as your Father, which is in heaven, is per- 
fect." Again, it is not " Love them which love you," but 
" Love your enemies." Again : " This also we wish, even 
your perfection : " " Not as though I had already attained," 
says St. Paul, " either were already perfect :" and here he 
says, " perfecting holiness." This expression seems to be 
suggested by the terms flesh and spirit; for the purifica- 
tion of the flesh alone would not be perfect, but super- 
ficial, holiness. Christian sanctifi cation, therefore, is an 
entire and whole thing ; it is nothing less than present- 
ing the whole man a sacrifice to Christ. "I pray God 
your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blame- 
less." For we should greatly mistake, if we supposed the 
Apostle meant here only one class of sins, when he speaks 
of purifying ourselves from " all filthiness in flesh and 
spirit:" for what are they which in Christ's catalogue 
defile the man? They are thefts, blasphemies, evil wit- 
ness, murders, as well as what we especially call sins of 
uncleanness. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 437 



LECTURE XLIX. 

January 26, 1353. 

2 Corinthians, vii. 2-8. — "Receive us; we have wronged no man, we 
have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man. — I speak not 
this to condemn you: for I have said before, that ye are in our hearts 
to die and live with you. — Great is my boldness of speech toward you, 
great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding 
joyful in all our tribulation. — For, when we were come into Mace- 
donia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; 
without were fightings, within were fears. — Nevertheless God, that 
comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of 
Titus; — And not by his coming only, but by the consolation where- 
with he was comforted in you, when he told us your earnest desire, 
your mourning, your fervent mind toward me; so that I rejoiced the 
more. — For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, 
though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made 
you sorry, though it were but for a season." 

The remainder of this chapter, which we began last 
Sunday, is almost entirely personal, having reference to 
the relations existing between St. Paul and the Corinthian 
Church. In the sixth chapter he had spoken of his ex- 
pressed affection towards them, and asked for a return. 
That return is contained in the words, " Be ye reconciled 
to God." "We found that the reconciliation itself con- 
sisted of two particulars — separation from the world, and 
separation from all impurity. Subordinate to this is 
a request for the only personal acknowledgment and 
recompence they could make for his affection : " Receive 
us," said St. Paul : " let there be an affectionate under- 



438 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

standing between us." Our subject to-day, therefore, 
chiefly hears on St. Paul's personal character, — his feelings 
and ministerial conduct. 

I. The ground on which he urged this request. 

II. The grounds on which he hoped it. 

I. He urged it on the ground that he deserved it. It 
was a simple matter of justice. ts We have wronged no 
man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded 
no man." Recollect the charges alleged against him : 
venality ; preaching the Gospel for gain ; and the accu- 
sation of the false teachers, who said, " He has over- 
reached you — taken you in." Now the Apostle meets 
these charges simply by an assertion of his innocence, 
but an assertion which appealed at the same time to their 
own witness. No one who read those words could doubt 
whether he was guilty, for there is a certain tone in in- 
nocence not easily mistaken. There are some voices that 
ring true. This reminds us of Samuel's purgation of 
himself when laying down his judgeship. A worthy close ! 
Two precedents are these, most worthy of thought, both 
for ministerial and secular life. Only consider how great 
in Samuel's case, and in St. Paul's, was the influence of 
integrity ! There is nothing from which it so much be- 
hoves a public servant — especially one in a sacred oftice 
— to be perfectly free, as from the very suspicion of 
interested motives. If he cannot say openly, and to his 
own heart, " I have not been bribed either by the hope of 
favour or popularity, or by the dread of offending; neither 
personal fear, nor personal hope, has ever shaped one sen- 
tence, or modified one tone, or kept back one truth," he 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 439 

may rest assured his work cannot stand. Honesty, up- 
rightness, integritv of character, are sometimes called mere 
moral virtues : and religious people are too often deficient 
in these points : hut the bright honour of the Apostle Paul 
was never stained. He could say, " I have wronged no 
man." There is, however, one touch of graceful delicacy 
in the way he made this assertion of his innocence, which 
must not be passed over, if we would rightly appreciate the 
character of St. Paul. A coarser and ruder man would 
have cared for nothing but the proof of his own integrity. 
Now St. Paul perceived that the broad assertion of this 
might give pain. It might cover with confusion those who 
had suspected him. It might seem to them as if this were 
spoken at them in indirect reproach. It might even wound 
those who had not suspected him, as if his protest were 
a bitter reflection upon them. Therefore, he adds, " I 
speak not this to condemn you ;" that is, a I am not 
defending myself against you, but to you. I am not 
reproaching you for past injustice: I only say these 
things to assure you of my undiminished love." 

There was one thing in the character of St. Paul, which 
often escapes observation. Carlyle calls him " an unkempt 
Apostle Paul ;" and some say of him, " He was a man 
rude, brave, true, unpolished." \Ye all know his inte- 
grity, his truth, his daring, Ins incorruptible honesty. 
But besides these, there was a refined and delicate cour- 
tesy, . which was for ever taking off the edge of his 
sharpest rebukes, and sensitively anticipating every pain 
his words might give : so that to have been rebuked by 
him would have been less painful than to be praised by 
most other men. Remember the exquisite courtesy with 



440 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

which his request to Philemon is put. Remember the 
delicate exception in his answer to Agrippa : i{ I would 
to God that not only thou, but also all that hear me 
this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, 
except these bonds." Remember, too, how he pours love 
over one of his strongest condemnations in Philippians : 
(C For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and 
now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of 
the cross of Christ." This is something of the tender tact, 
the Christian art, which marks the character of this 
Apostle. Observe, it is only Love which can give that. It 
was not high breeding ; it was rather good breeding. High 
breeding gracefully insists on its own rights : good breed- 
ing gracefully remembers the rights of others. We have 
all seen that dignified courtesy which belongs to high 
birth, which never offends as long as it is not personally 
harmed. But we know that that will not last : provoca- 
tion makes it as bitter and as vulgar as the breeding of 
the most uncultured mechanic. Far — far above this, is the 
polish which the highest Christianity gives to the heart. 
It is not " gentility," but gentleness. It is the wisdom 
from above, which is first pure, then gentle. 

There is a rough, rude, straightforward honesty which 
is just and upright, which can say these words as St. Paul 
did : " I have wronged no man." Perforce we respect 
such integrity. But Christianity requires something more : 
not gold only, but gold thrice refined; not a building 
of precious stones only, but of exquisite polish also ; for 
there is a rough way, and a gentle w r ay, of being true. 
Do not think that Christian polish weakens character, as 
polish thins the diamond. The polish of the world not 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 441 

only saps strength of character, hut makes it even un- 
natural. Look at St. Paul, with all that grace of a 
feeling almost feminine in its sensitiveness — was there 
ever anything in human character more daringly impas- 
sioned, more full of noble energy and childlike impulsive- 
ness ! That is what the grace of Christ can do. 

II. The grounds for the Apostle's hope of a good 
understanding with the Corinthians. To put it in one 
word : he rested it on his candour ; he hoped it, because 
he had been true with them in all his dealings : " Great 
is my boldness" — that is, freedom — " of speech toward 
you." But let us explain. When we were going through 
the First Epistle, we found that a scandalous crime had 
been committed by a Corinthian Christian; it was the 
crime of incest. Now consider the difficulty in which 
St. Paul was placed. If he rebuked the Corinthians, he 
would probably destroy his own interest, and irreparably 
offend them. If he left the crime unnoticed, he might 
seem to connive at it, or gloss it over. Besides this, the 
subject was a delicate one to enter upon : it touched 
family honour and family feelings. Might it not be wise 
to leave the wound unprobed? Moreover, we all know 
how hard it is to deal harshly with the sins of those we 
love, of those to whom we are indebted, or who are 
indebted to us. 

Any of these considerations might have made a less 
straightforward man silent. But St. Paul did not hesi- 
tate: he wrote off at once that First Epistle, which 
goes into the matter fully, with no false delicacy — 
calling wrong, wrong, and laying upon those who per- 
mitted it, and honoured it, their full share of blame. 



442 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

Scarcely, however, had the Apostle written the Epistle, 
and irrevocably sent it, than misgivings began to cross 
his mind, as we see in the eighth verse, where he says, 
" I did repent." To some persons this wonld be perplex- 
ing. They cannot understand how an inspired Apostle 
could regret what he had done : if it were by Inspira- 
tion, what room could there be for misgivings? And if 
he regretted an act done under God's guidance, just as any 
common man might regret a foolish act, how could the 
Apostle be inspired? But this, which might perplex some, 
exhibits the very beauty and naturalness of the whole nar- 
rative. God's inspiration does not take a man and make 
a passive machine of him, as a musician might use a flute, 
breathing through it what tones he pleases, while the flute 
itself is unconscious, unresisting, and un-cooperating. 
When God inspires, His Spirit mixes with the spirit of 
man, in the form of thought, not without struggles and 
misgivings of the human element. Otherwise it would 
not be human: it would not be inspiration of the man, 
but simply a Divine echo through the man. Yery beau- 
tiful is this account of the inspired letter of St. Paul to 
the Corinthians ; so real, so human, so natural ! 

These misgivings lasted a considerable time. In the 
twelfth verse of the second chapter we learn that at Troas 
they had not subsided. He went there on his way to 
Macedonia, in order the sooner to meet Titus, with the 
reply from the Corinthians ; and in this chapter we learn 
that these doubts had even gathered strength : " For, when 
we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but 
we were troubled on every side ; without were fightings, 
within were fears." Here I make a remark by the way : 



TO THE COEINTHIANS. 443 

It is by passages such as these alone, that we can appreciate 
and understand the real trials of apostles and missionaries. 
Here was a journey from Asia to Corinth, through various 
places. Now the obvious trials of such a course all could 
comprehend. Perils by sea ; perils from the Jews ; perils 
from governors ; perils of travel ; hardships and privations : 
these were not the trifles which tried a spirit like St. Paul's. 
For it is not hardships that are the wearing work of life. It 
is anxiety of heart and mind ; it is the fretting, carking 
cares of deep solicitude : one sorrow, one deep, corroding 
anxiety, will wear deeper furrows in a cheek and brow, 
than ten campaigns can do. One day's suspense will 
exhaust more, and leave the cheek paler than a week's 
fasting. Thus it is a low estimate of the depth of apo- 
stolic trial to say that physical suffering was its chief 
element. And if this be true, how much more degrading 
is it so to treat of the Sufferings of Christ, of whom the 
Prophet said: "He shall see of the travail of His soul, 
and be satisfied." We degrade His Life and Death by 
pictures of His physical suffering and His bodily agony 
on the Cross. For it was not the nails that pierced His 
hands which wrung from Him the exceeding bitter cry 3 
but the iron that had entered into His soul. 

To return from this digression. In Macedonia St. Paul 
met Titus, bearing a letter from the Corinthians, by which 
it appeared that his rebuke had done its work. Instead of 
alienating, it had roused them to earnestness: they had 
purged ihemselves of complicity in the guilt, by the 
punishment and excommunication of the offender. This 
was the Apostle's comfort; and on this ground he built 
his sanguine hope that the Corinthians would receive hinij 



444 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

and that there would be no more misunderstanding — v. 7. 
Now let us see the personal application — the principles 
derivable from these facts. 

First, I infer the value of explanations. Had St. Paul 
left the matter unsettled, or only half settled, there never 
could have been a hearty understanding between him and 
Corinth. There would have been for ever a sense of a 
something reserved; there would have been a wound, 
which never had been probed. Whenever, then, there is a 
misunderstanding between man and man, or harsh words 
reported to one as said by the other, the true remedy 
is a direct and open request for explanation. In the 
world's idea, this means satisfaction in the sense of 
revenge; in the Christian sense, it means examination 
in order to do mutual justice. The rule for this is laid 
down by Christ : " Moreover if thy brother shall trespass 
against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and 
him alone : if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy 
brother." It is the neglect of this rule of frankness that 
perpetuates misunderstandings. Suspicions lie hid, and 
burn, and rankle; and sentences, and half sentences, are 
reported by persons who do not mean to make mischief, 
but who effectually do so. Words are distorted and mis- 
construed, and two upright men, between whom one frank, 
open conversation would set all right, are separated for 
ever. 

Secondly, I infer the blessing, not merely the duty, of 
entire truthfulness. The affectionate relations between St. 
Paul and the Corinthians, though interrupted, were restored 
again, because he had been true. Candour and straight- 
forwardness were the bond of attachment. Henceforward, 



TO THE COEINTHIANS. 445 

however their friendship might he tried, however his love 
might he maligned, they would feel sure of him, and he 
would never fear an explanation. A firm foundation had 
been laid for an abiding relation between the Apostle and 
his Church. Learn then, never to smooth away, through 
fear of results, the difficulties of love or friendship by 
concealment, or a subtle suppression of facts or feelings. 
Reprove, explain, submit with all gentleness, and yet with 
all truth and openness. The deadliest poison you can 
instil into the wine of life is a fearful reserve which 
creates suspicion, or a lie which will canker and kill 
your own love, and through that your friend's. The 
great blessings of this life are Friendship and Affection. 
Be sure that the only irreparable blight of both is 
falseness. 



446 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 



LECTURE L. 

June 30, 1850. 

2 Corinthians, vii. 9, 10. — " Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, 
but that ye sorrowed to repentance : for ye were made sorry after a 
godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. — For 
godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of : 
but the sorrow of the world worketh death." 

That which is chiefly insisted on in these verses, is the 
distinction "between sorrow and repentance. To grieve 
over sin is one thing, to repent of it is another. 

The Apostle rejoiced, not that the Corinthians sorrowed, 
hut that they sorrowed unto repentance. Sorrow has two 
results ; it may end in spiritual life, or in spiritual death ; 
and, in themselves, one of these is as natural as the 
other. Sorrow may produce two kinds of reformation 
— a transient, or a permanent one- — an alteration in habits, 
which, originating in emotion, will last so long as that 
emotion continues, and then, after a few fruitless efforts, 
he given up, — a repentance which will be repented of; 
or, again, a permanent change, which will be reversed 
by no after thought — a repentance not to be repented 
of. Sorrow is, in itself, therefore, a thing neither good 
nor bad : its value depends on the spirit of the person 
on whom it falls. Fire will inflame straw, soften iron, 
or harden clay: its effects are determined by the object 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 447 

with which it comes in contact. Warmth develops the 
energies of life, or helps the progress of decay. It is 
a great power in the hot-house, a great power also in 
the coffin; it expands the leaf, matures the fruit, adds 
precocious vigour to vegetable life : and warmth, too, 
develops, with tenfold rapidity, the weltering process of 
dissolution. So too with sorrow. There are spirits in 
which it develops the seminal principle of life; there 
are others in which it prematurely hastens the consum- 
mation of irreparable decay. Our subject, therefore, is 
the twofold power of sorrow: — 

I. The fatal power of the sorrow of the world. 
II. The life-giving power of the sorrow that is after 
God. 

I. The simplest way in which the sorrow of the world 
works death is seen in the effect of mere regret for 
worldly loss. There are certain advantages with which 
we come into the world. Youth, health, friends, and 
sometimes property. So long as these are continued we 
are happy ; and because happy, fancy ourselves very 
grateful to God. We bask in the sunshine of His gifts, 
and this pleasant sensation of sunning ourselves in life 
we call religion; that state in which we all are before 
sorrow comes, to test the temper of the metal of which 
our souls are made, when the spirits are unbroken and 
the heart buoyant, when a fresh morning is to a young 
heart what it is to the skylark. The exuberant burst 
ef joy seems a spontaneous hymn to the Father of all 
blessing, like the matin carol of the bird ; but this is 
not religion : it is the instinctive utterance of happy 



448 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

feeling, having as little of moral character in it, in the 
happy human being, as in the happy bird. Nay more — 
the religion which is only sunned into being by happi- 
ness is a suspicious thing : having been warmed by joy, 
it will become cold when joy is over ; and then, when 
these blessings are removed, we count ourselves hardly 
treated, as if we had been defrauded of a right; re- 
bellious, hard feelings come; then it is you see people 
become bitter, spiteful, discontented. At every step in 
the solemn path of life, something must be mourned which 
will come back no more ; the temper that was so smooth 
becomes rugged and uneven ; the benevolence that ex- 
panded upon all, narrows into an ever dwindling selfish- 
ness — we are alone; and then that death-like loneliness 
deepens as life goes on. The course of man is downwards, 
and he moves with slow and ever more solitary steps, 
down to the dark silence — the silence of the grave. This 
is the death of heart ; the sorrow of the world has worked 
death. 

Again, there is a sorrow of the world, when sin is 
grieved for in a worldly spirit. There are two views of 
sin : in one it is looked upon as wrong — in the other, as 
producing loss — loss, for example, of character. In such 
cases, if character could be preserved before the world, 
grief would not come : but the paroxysms of misery fall 
upon our proud spirit when our guilt is made public. 
The most distinct instance we have of this is in the life 
of Saul. In the midst of his apparent grief, the thing 
still uppermost was that he had forfeited his kingly 
character : almost the only longing was, that Samuel 
should honour him before his people. And hence it 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 449 

comes to pass that often remorse and anguish only begin 
with exposure. Suicide takes place, not when the act of 
wrong is done, but when the guilt is known ; and hence, 
too, many a one becomes hardened who would otherwise 
have remained tolerably happy ; in consequence of which 
we blame the exposure, not the guilt ; we say, if it had 
hushed up, all would have been well ; that the servant 
who robbed his master was ruined by taking away his 
character; and that if the sin had been passed over, 
repentance might have taken place, and he might have 
remained a respectable member of society. Do not think 
so. It is quite true that remorse was produced by ex- 
posure, and that the remorse was fatal ; the sorrow which 
worked death arose from that exposure, and so far ex- 
posure may be called the cause : had it never taken place, 
respectability, and comparative peace, might have con- 
tinued ; but outward respectability is not change of heart. 

It is well known that the corpse has been preserved 
for centuries in the iceberg, or in antiseptic peat ; and 
that when atmospheric air was introduced to the exposed 
surface it crumbled into dust. Exposure worked disso- 
lution, but it only manifested the death which was already 
there ; so with sorrow : it is not the living heart which 
drops to pieces, or crumbles into dust, when it is revealed. 
Exposure did not work death in the Corinthian sinner, but 
life. 

There is another form of grief for sin, which the Apostle 
would not have rejoiced to see ; it is when the hot tears 
come from pride. No two tones of feeling, apparently 
similar, are more unlike than that in which Saul ex- 
claimed, " I have played the fool exceedingly," and that 



450 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

in which the Publican cried out, " God be merciful to 
me a sinner." The charge of folly brought against one- 
self only proves that we feel bitterly for having lost our 
own self-respect. It is a humiliation to have forfeited 
the idea which a man had formed of his own character 
— to find that the very excellence on which he prided 
himself is the one in which he has failed. If there 
were a virtue for which Saul was conspicuous, it was 
generosity ; yet it was exactly in this point of generosity 
in which he discovered himself to have failed, when he 
was overtaken on the mountain, and his life spared by 
the very man whom he was hunting to the death, with 
feelings of the meanest jealousy. Yet there was no real 
repentance there ; there was none of that in which a 
man is sick of state and pomp. Saul could still rejoice 
in regal splendour, go about complaining of himself to 
the Ziphites, as if he was the most ill-treated and friend- 
less of mankind; he was still jealous of his reputation, 
and anxious to be well thought of. Quite different is the 
tone in which the Publican, who felt himself a sinner, 
asked for mercy. lie heard the contumelious expression 
of the Pharisee, " this Publican," with no resentment ; 
he meekly bore it as a matter naturally to be taken for 
granted — "he did not so much as lift up his eyes to 
heaven ; " he was as a worm which turns in agony, but 
not revenge, upon the foot which treads it into the dust. 

Now this sorrow of Saul's, too, works death: no 
merit can restore self-respect ; when once a man has 
found himself out, he cannot be deceived- again. The 
heart is as a stone : a speck of canker corrodes and spreads 
within. What on this earth remains, but endless sorrow, 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 451 

for him who has ceased to respect himself, and has no 
God to turn to ? 

II. The divine power of sorrow. 

1. It works repentance. By repentance is meant, in 
Scripture, change of life, alteration of habits, renewal of 
heart. This is the aim and meaning of all sorrow. The 
consequences of sin are meant to wean from sin. The 
penalty annexed to it is, in the first instance, corrective, 
not penal. Fire burns the child, to teach it one of the 
truths of tins universe — the property of fire to burn. 
The first time it cuts its hand with a sharp knife, it has 
gained a lesson which it never will forget. Now, in the 
case of pain, this experience is seldom, if ever, in vain.. 
There is little chance of a child forgetting that fire will 
burn, and that sharp steel will cut ; but the moral lessons 
contained in the penalties annexed to wrong-doing are just 
as truly intended, though they are by no means so un- 
erring in enforcing their application. The fever in the 
veins and the headache which succeed intoxication, are 
meant to warn against excess. On the first occasion 
they are simply corrective ; in every succeeding one 
they assume more and more a penal character in pro- 
portion as the conscience carries with them the sense of 
ill desert. 

Sorrow, then, has done its work when it deters from 
evil ; in other words, when it works repentance. In the 
sorrow of the world, the obliquity of the heart towards 
evil is not cured ; it seems as if nothing cured it ; heart- 
ache and trials come in vain; the history of life at last 
is what it was at first. The man is found erring where 

G G 2 



452 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

lie erred before. The same course, begun with the cer- 
tainty of the same desperate end which has taken place 
so often before. 

They have reaped the whirlwind, but they will again 
sow the wind. Hence, I believe, that life-giving sorrow 
is less remorse for that which is irreparable, than anxiety 
to save that which remains. The sorrow that ends in 
death hangs in funeral weeds over the sepulchres of the 
past. Yet the present does not become more wise. Not 
one resolution is made more firm, nor one habit more holy. 
Grief is all. Whereas sorrow avails only when the past 
is converted into experience, and from failure lessons are 
learned which never are to be forgotten. 

2. Permanence of alteration ; for after all, a steady re- 
formation is a more decisive test of the value of mourning 
than depth of grief. 

The susceptibility of emotion varies with individuals. 
Some men feel intensely, others suffer less keenly ; but 
this is constitutional, belonging to nervous temperament, 
rather than moral character. This is the characteristic 
of the divine sorrow, that it is a repentance " not repented 
of;" no transient, short-lived resolutions, but sustained 
resolve. 

And the beautiful law is, that in proportion as the 
repentance increases the grief diminishes. "I rejoice," 
says Paul, that " I made you sorry, though it were but 
for a time." Grief for a time, repentance for ever. And 
few things more signally prove the wisdom of this Apostle 
than his way of dealing with this grief of the Corinthian. 
He tried no artificial means of intensifying it — did not urge 
the duty of dwelling upon it, magnifying it, nor even 



TO THE COKINTHIANS. 453 

of gauging and examining it. So soon as grief had done 
its work, the Apostle was anxious to dry useless tears — 
he even feared " lest haply such an one should be swal- 
lowed up with overmuch sorrow." " A true penitent," 
says Mr. Newman, "never forgives himself." O false 
estimate of the gospel of Christ, and of the heart of 
man ! A proud remorse does not forgive itself the for- 
feiture of its own dignity; but it is the very beauty of 
the penitence which is according to God, that at last the 
sinner, realizing God's forgiveness, does learn to forgive 
himself. For what other purpose did St. Paul command 
the Church of Corinth to give ecclesiastical absolution, 
but in order to afford a symbol and assurance of the 
Divine pardon, in which the guilty man's grief should 
not be overwhelming, but that he should become recon- 
ciled to himself? What is meant by the Publican's going 
down to his house justified, but that he felt at peace with 
himself and God? 

3. It is sorrow with God — here called " godly sorrow ;" 
in the margin, " sorrowing according to God." 

God sees sin not in its consequences, but in itself; a 
thing infinitely evil, even if the consequences were happi- 
ness to the guilty instead of misery. So sorrow according 
to God, is to see sin as God sees it. The grief of Peter 
was as bitter as that of Judas. He went out and wept bit- 
terly ; how bitterly none can tell but they who have 
learned to look on sin as God does. But in Peter's grief 
there was an element of hope ; and that sprung precisely 
from this — that he saw God in it all. Despair of self did 
not lead to despair of God. 

This is the great, peculiar feature of this sorrow : God 



454 LECTUEES ON THE EPISTLES 

is there, accordingly self is less prominent. It is not 
a microscopic self-examination, nor a mourning in which 
self is ever uppermost : my character gone ; the greatness 
of my sin ; the forfeiture of my salvation. The thought 
of God absorbs all that. I believe the feeling of true 
penitence would express itself in such words as these : — 
There is a righteousness, though I have not attained it. 
There is a purity, and a love, and a beauty, though my 
life exhibits little of it. In that I can rejoice. Of that 
I can feel the surpassing loveliness. My doings? They 
are worthless, I cannot endure to think of them. I am 
not thinking of them. I have something else to think of. 
There, there ; in that Life I see it. And so the Christian 
— gazing not on what he is, but on what he desires to be — 
dares in penitence to say, That righteousness is mine : 
dares, even when the recollection of his sin is most vivid 
and most poignant, to say with Peter, thinking less of 
himself than of God, and sorrowing as it were with God — 
" Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I love 
Thee." 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 455 



LECTURE LI. 

1853. 

2 Corinthians, vii. 11-16. — "For behold this selfsame thing, that ye 
sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, 
what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, 
yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In 
all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter. — 
Wherefore, though I wrote unto you, I did it not for his cause that 
had done the wrong, nor for his cause that suffered wrong, but that 
our care for you in the sight of God might appear unto you. — There- 
fore we were comforted in your comfort: yea, and exceedingly the 
more joyed we for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed 
by you all. — For if I have boasted anything to him of you, I am not 
ashamed; but as we spake all tilings to you in truth, even so our 
boasting, which I made before Titus, is found a truth. — And his 
inward affection is more abundant toward you, whilst he remem- 
bereth the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling ye 
received him. — I rejoice therefore that I have confidence in you in all 
things." 

To-day we touch upon the last of those notices respecting 
St. Paul's treatment of the incestuous Corinthian, which 
have so repeatedly interwoven themselves with the argu- 
ment of the First and Second Epistles. The general sub- 
ject has successively brought before us the nature of 
human punishment, as not being merely reformatory, nor 
exemplary, nor for safety's sake, but also as being declara- 
tive of the indignation of society, and through society? of 
the indignation of God against sin. Again, it has taught 
us to consider excommunication and absolution, and what 
these ecclesiastical words express; and also to consider 



45G LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

the power of binding and loosing lodged in Humanity 
— an actual and awful power, often used with fearful 
injustice and evil results: as when a person, cut off for 
ever from return, is driven to despair, "swallowed up 
with overmuch sorrow." Now these are real powers, 
dispute as men may about the ecclesiastical meaning to 
be given to them. Every one daily, and often uncon- 
sciously, exercises them; and to do this rightly is no 
easy task : for it is difficult to punish wisely, and it is 
equally difficult to forgive wisely. It is rare even that 
we rebuke in a true and prudent spirit. Hence the 
whole history of St. Paul's dealing with this offender is 
one of exceeding value, being so full of wisdom, firmness-, 
justice, and exquisite tenderness. Most truly it is an 
inexhaustible subject ! 

The portion of it which we shall consider to-day is the 
Christian manner of rebuke. We take two points : — 

I. The spirit of apostolical rebuke. 
II. The apostolical doctrine of repentance. 

I. The spirit of apostolical rebuke. 

First : It was marked by unflinching severity : " I do 
not repent; . . . for I perceive that the same epistle 
hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season. 
Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye 
sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a 
godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in 
nothing." St. Paul rejoiced, then, in the pain he had in- 
flicted: his censure had not been weak: severely, truth- 
fully he had rebuked. Let us inquire the reason of this joy. 
St. Paul rejoiced because the pain was transitory, while the 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 457 

good was permanent ; because the sorrow was for a time, 
but the blessing for ever; because the suffering was in 
this world, but the salvation for eternity : for the sinner 
had been delivered to " Satan for the destruction of the 
flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the 
Lord Jesus." The criminal had undergone public shame 
and public humiliation; his had been private grief, and 
many searchings of heart : and all this had not only 
taught him a lesson, which never could be forgotten, and 
strengthened him by terrible discipline against future 
weakness, but also had set up for the Corinthians a 
higher standard, and vindicated the purity of Christian 
life and the dignity of the Christian Church. This was 
the pain, and these were its results. Seeing these results, 
St. Paid steadily contemplated the necessary suffering. 

Let us now infer from this a great truth — the misfortune 
of non-detection. They who have done wrong congra- 
tulate themselves upon not being found out. Boys sin by 
disobedience; men commit crimes against society: and 
their natural impulse is to hush all up, and if what they 
have done is undiscovered, to consider it a happy escape. 
Now the worst misfortune that can happen is to sin and 
to escape detection ; shame and sorrow do God's work, as 
nothing else can do it. We can readily conceive that, if 
this shame and scandal had been hushed up, then the 
offender would have thought it a fortunate escape, and 
sinned again. A sin undetected is the soil out of which 
fresh sin will grow. Somehow, like a bullet wound, the 
extraneous evil must come out in the face of day, be 
found out, or else be acknowledged by confession. I do 
not say it should be disclosed publicly. It suffices if a 



458 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

few — or even one person only — have known it, and then 
condemned and absolved the offender. 

Let me ask, then, who here is congratulating himself, is 
whispering to his own heart, My sin is not known, I shall 
not be disgraced, nor punished ? Think you, that because 
undetected, you will escape with impunity ? No — never ! 
Your sin is there, rankling in your heart : your wound is 
not probed, but only healed over falsely ; and it will break 
out in the future, more corrupted, and more painful than 
before. 

Secondly : The Apostle's rebuke was marked by the desire 
of doing good. It is a thing common enough to be severe. 
We are severe enough on one another, both in our view 
of public punishment and in our condemnation of one 
another's faults. But the question is, What is at the 
bottom of this zeal ? It is no rare thing to find men who 
can be severe in rebuke : but the thing which is uppermost 
is evidently themselves — their own fidelity, courage, and 
truthfulness. They tell you of your faults, but you feel 
it is not your reformation, but their own vain-glory they 
are trying to secure. Now St. Paul was not thinking of 
himself, but of the Corinthians. This is manifest from 
several verses in this chapter. Take the ninth verse : 
"That ye might receive damage by us in nothing;" or 
the eleventh : " In all things ye have approved yourselves 
to be clear in this matter ;" or the sixteenth : " I rejoice, 
therefore, that I have confidence in you in all things." 
The apostle was not delivering his own soul, but he was 
trying to save their souls. 

Let us, therefore, examine ourselves. We blame, and 
find fault, and pass judgment upon our neighbour freely; 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 459 

we boldly condemn public men. Why is this ? Is it to 
show to ourselves, and others, how good we are — how we 
cannot abide sin ? or is it to do good ? It is often a duty 
to express disapprobation strongly and severely, to dis- 
countenance vice most earnestly ; but then we do it not 
in St. Paul's spirit, unless it is done for the sake of 
amelioration. 

Thirdly: The Apostle's rebuke was marked by a spirit 
of justice. We refer to the twelfth verse: "Wherefore, 
though I wrote unto you, I did it not for his cause that 
had done the wrong, nor for his cause that suffered wrong, 
but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear 
unto you." That is, his interference was not partisanship. 
There was in it no taking of a side, no espousing the cause 
of the injured, nor mere bitterness against the criminal: 
but a holy, godly zeal, full of indignation but not of vin- 
dictiveness. In one word, it was Justice. Now this is 
exactly what some of the best amongst us find most diffi- 
cult — those especially of us who possess quick, sensitive, 
right, and generous feelings. We can be charitable, we 
can be indignant, we can forgive; but we are not just. 
Especially is this the case with women : the natural sensi- 
tiveness and quick nature of their feelings, particularly in 
their conceptions of right and wrong, hinder them from 
looking at things calmly enough to judge correctly. 
Again : this justice is most difficult when religious interests 
are involved : as, for example, in the quarrel between the 
Roman Catholic and the Protestant, who judges fairly? 
To be just, is not easy : for many qualities go to make up 
justice. It is founded on forbearance, self-control, patience 
to examine both sides, and freedom from personal passion. 



460 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

Fourthly: St. Paul's rebuke was marked by joyful 
sympathy in the restoration of the erring. Very beautiful 
is the union of the hearts of Paul and Titus in joy over 
the recovered — joy as of the angels in heaven over " one 
sinner that repenteth." 

II. The apostolic doctrine of repentance. 

St. Paul rejoiced because the Corinthians sorrowed: 
but in doing so, he carefully distinguished the kind of 
sorrow which he rejoiced to have caused. In order to 
follow him, we must see what different kinds of sorrow 
there are. 

1. The sorrow of the world, which is not desirable, be- 
cause it is of the world. There is an anxiety about loss, 
about the consequences of mis-doing, about a ruined repu- 
tation, about a narrowed sphere of action. Now sin brings 
all these things ; but to sorrow for them is not to sorrow 
before God. To sorrow for such things is only a worldly 
grief, because it is only about worldly things. Observe, 
therefore, that pain, simply as pain, does no good ; that 
sorrow, merely as sorrow, has in it no magical efficacy : 
shame may harden into effrontery, punishment may 
rouse into defiance. Again, pain self-inflicted does no 
good. It is a great error when men, perceiving that God's 
natural penalties and hardships strengthen and purify the 
spirit, think to attain to a similar good by forcing such 
penalties and hardships upon themselves. 

It is true that fire, borne for the sake of Truth, is 
martyrdom ; but the hand burnt in ascetic severity does 
not give the crown of martyrdom, nor even inspire the 
martyr's feeling. Fastings, such as St. Paul bore from 
inability to get food, give spiritual strength ; but fastings 



TO THE COKINTHIANS. 461 

endured for mere exercise often do no more than produce 
feverishness of temper. This holds good, likewise, of 
bereavement. The loss of those dear to us — relations and 
friends — when it is borne as coming from God, has the 
effect of strengthening and purifying the character. But 
to bring sorrow wilfully upon ourselves, can be of no avail 
towards improvement. The difference between these two 
things lies in this, that when God inflicts the blow, He 
gives the strength ; but when you give it to yourself, 
God does not promise aid. Be sure this world has enough 
of the Cross in it : you need not go out of your way to seek 
it. Be sure there will always be enough of humiliation 
and shame, and solitariness for each man to bear if he 
be living the Christ-life. They need not be self-inflicted. 

2. The sorrow of this world is not desirable because it 
" works death ; " and this it does in two ways, literally 
and figuratively. And first, literally: We do not need 
instances to show that there is nothing like wearing 
sorrow to shorten life. Death from a broken heart is not 
uncommon ; and when this is not the case, how often have 
we seen that the days of existence are abridged, the hair 
grows grey, all the fresh springs of being are dried up, 
and all the vigour and force of brain and life decay! 
When the terror of sorrow came on Nabal, his heart 
became as a stone, and died within him, and in ten days 
all was over. When the evil tidings came from the host 
of Israel, the heart of the wife of Phinehas broke beneath 
her grief, and in a few hours death followed her be- 
reavement. 

Figuratively, too, the sorrow of this world "works 
death:" for grief, unalloyed with hope, kills the soul, 



462 LECTUEES ON THE EPISTLES 

and man becomes powerless in a protracted sorrow where 
hope in God is not. The mind will not work ; it feels 
no vigour; there is no desire to succeed, no impulse to 
undertake, for the spirit of enterprise and the eagerness 
in action are over and gone for ever. The zest of ex- 
istence is no more : e( the wine of life is drawn." Hours, 
days, and years drag on in feeling's sickly mood ; and the 
only things which pass not away are melancholy and use- 
lessness, now become " the habit of the soul." 

Once more: The sorrow of this world "works death" 
spiritually. Grief works death. It is a fearful thing to 
see how some men are made worse by trial. It is terrible 
to watch sorrow as it sours the temper, and works out 
into malevolence and misanthropy. Opposition makes 
them proud and defiant. Blow after blow falls on them, 
and they bear all in the hardness of a sullen silence. 

Such a man was Saul, the first king of Israel, whose 
earlier career was so bright and glorious, to whom all 
that lay before and around him seemed only to augur 
happiness. These all gradually darkened, and a something 
was at work at the heart of his life. Defeat and misfor- 
tune gradually soured his temper, and made him bitter 
and cruel. The fits of moody grief became more frequent, 
and then came, quickly, sin on sin, and woe on woe. 
Jealousy passed into disobedience, and insanity into suicide. 
The sorrow of the world had " worked death." 

The second kind of sorrow we mentioned is godly 
sorrow, and we will consider : first, its marks ; secondly, 
its results. 

1. Its marks. — First: Over these we shall run rapidly. 
Moral earnestness, which is here, in the eleventh verse, 



TO THE CORD; THIAXS. 463 

called (i carefulness." My brethren, the one difficulty in 
life is to be in earnest. All this world in the gala day 
seems but a passing, unreal show. "We dance, light- 
hearted, along the ways of existence, and nothing tells us 
that the earth is hollow to our tread. But soon some 
deep grief comes, and shocks us into reality; the solid 
earth rocks beneath our feet : the awfulness of life meets 
us face to face in the desert. Then the value of things is 
seen ; then it is that godly sorrow produces carefulness ; 
then it is that, like Jacob, we cry, " How awful is this 
place ! how solemn is this life ! This is none other but the 
house of God, and this is the gate of heaven ! " Then it 
is that with moral earnestness we set forth — walking cir- 
cumspectly, weighing with a watchful and sober eye, all 
the acts and thoughts which make up life. 

Next, this o-odlv sorrow " worketh fear : " not an un- 
worthy terror, but the opposite of that light recklessness 
which lives only from day to day. Again, it worketh 
"vehement desire," that is, affection; for true sorrow — 
sorrow to God — softens, not hardens the soul. It opens 
sympathies, for it teaches what others suffer ; it gives a 
deeper power of sympathy and consolation, for only through 
suffering can you win the godlike ability of feeling for 
other's pain. It expands affection, for your sorrow makes 
you accordant with the "still sad music" of humanity. 
A true sorrow is that u deep grief which humanizes the 
soul ; " often out of it comes that late remorse of love 
which leads us to arise and go [to our Father, and say, " I 
have sinned against Heaven and in Thy sight." 

Again, " clearing of themselves," that is, anxiety about 
character. Some one has said that (i to justify one's deeds 



464 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

unto oneself is the last infirmity of evil ;" he means that 
when we cease to do that, then evil is strong: for as 
long as a man excuses himself, there is hope. He has at 
least a standard of right and wrong still left. Now there 
is a recklessness of grief for sin, out of which a man wakes 
when he begins to feel hope, and tries to wipe off the 
past, w T hen, in St. Paul's words, a godly sorrow urges 
him to clear himself. 

Lastly, it is a sorrow which produces " revenge." We 
interpret this as indignation against wrong in others and 
in ourselves. Nowhere is this more remarkable than in 
David's Psalms; and though these are personal, yet still 
the feeling which gave them birth is a deep and true one, 
without which all goodness is but feebleness. 

These together make up repentance unto salvation. 

Finally, the results: 1. "Not to be repented of." 
" Sorrow's memory is sorrow still." No ! not that 
sorrow. No man ever mourned over the time spent in 
tears for sin. No man ever looked back upon that heal- 
ing period of his life as time lost. No man ever regretted 
things given up or pleasures sacrificed for God's sake. No 
man on his dying bed ever felt a pang for the suffering sin 
had brought on him, if it had led him in all humbleness to 
Christ. No man ever regretted the agony of conquest 
when he felt the weight upon his heart to be less through 
sorrow even by a single sin. But how many a man on 
his death-bed has felt the recollection of guilty pleasures 
as the serpent's fang and venom in his soul ! 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 46.: 



LECTURE LIL 

1853. 

2 Corinthians, viii. 1-12. — -Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of 
the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia; — How that 
in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep 
poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. — For to their 
power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of 
themselves; — Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive 
the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the 
saints. — And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own 
selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God. — Insomuch that 
we desired Titus, that as lie had begun, so he would also finish in you 
the same grace also. — Therefore, as ye abound in everything, in faith, 
and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your lovo- 
to us, see that ye abound in this grace also. — I speak not by com- 
mandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove 
the sincerity of your love. — For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, that, though he was rich, j^et for your sakes he became poor, 
that ye through his poverty might be rich. — And herein I give my 
advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not 
only to do, but also to be forward a year ago. — Now therefore perform 
the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may 
be a performance also out of that which ye have. — For if there be 
first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and 
not according to that he hath not." 

Ix tlie last chapter of the First Epistle mention was made- 
of a contribution which the Corinthians were systemati- 
cally to store up for the poor brethren at Jerusalem. To- 
day we enter on a fresh treatment of the same topic, and 
on a subject different from those we have lately been 
engaged with. This contribution St. Paul collected in 
his journeys from the Christian Churches. In this 

n h 



466 LECTUIIES ON THE EPISTLES 

chapter he records the largeness of the sum which had 
been given him by the churches of Macedonia, and urges 
the Church of Corinth to emulate their example. 

We consider two points : — 

I. Nature of Christian liberality. 

II. Motives urged on the Corinthians. 

I. Nature of Christian liberality as exemplified in that 
of the churches of Macedonia. First, it was a grace 
bestowed from God : — " Moreover, brethren, we do you to 
wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of 
Macedonia" (v. 1). And again: "Insomuch that we 
desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also 
finish in you the same grace also" (v. 6). 

Now there are many reasons besides this mentioned by 
St. Paul which make liberality desirable. For example, 
there is utility. By liberality hospitals are supported, 
missions are established, social disorders are partially 
healed. But St. Paul does not take the utilitarian 
ground; though in its way it is a true one. Again, he does 
not take another ground advanced by some ; — that 
liberality is merely for the advantage of the persons 
relieved : " For I mean not that other men be eased, 
and ye burdened" (v. 13): as if the benefit of the poor 
were the main end; as if God cared for the poor, and 
not for the rich ; as if to get from those who have, and 
bestow on those who have not, were the object of incit- 
ing to liberality. St. Paul distinctly denies this. He 
takes the higher ground : it is a grace of God. He 
contemplates the benefit to the soul of the giver. Charity 
is useful, but also lovely : not a mere engine in our nature 



TO THE COltlNTMAXS. 467 

to work for social purposes, but that which is likest God 
in the soul. 

Secondly : Christian liberality was the work of a willing 
mind : " For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted 
according to that a man hath, and not according to that 
he hath not" (v. 12). Plainly, it is not the value of the 
contribution, but the love of the contributor which makes 
it precious. The offering is sanctified or made unholy in 
God's sight by the spirit in which it is given. The 
most striking passage in which this truth is illustrated is 
that of the widow's mite. Tried by the gauge of the 
treasurer of a charity, it was next to nothing. Tried by 
the test of Charity, it was more than that of all. Her 
coins, worthless in the eyes of the rich Pharisee, were 
in the eyes of Christ transformed by her love into the gold 
of the Eternal City. 

Yet St. Paul does not say that a willing mind is all. 
He makes a wise addition : " Now therefore perform the 
doing of it." Because, true though it is that willingness 
is accepted where the means are not, yet where the means 
are, willingness is only tested by performance. Good 
feelings, good sentiments, charitable intentions, are only 
condensed in sacrifice. Test yourself by action : test 
your feelings and your fine liberal words by self-denial. 
Do not let life evaporate in slothful sympathies. You wish 
you were rich : and fancy that then you would make the 
poor happy, and spend your life in blessing ? Now — now 
is the time — now or never. Habituate your heart to acts 
of giving. Habituate your spirit to the thought that in 
all lives something is owed to God. Neglect this now, 
and you will not practise it more when rich. Charity is 

H H 2 



438 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

a habit of the soul, therefore now is the time. Let it be 
said, " He hath done what he could" 

Thirdly: The outpouring of poverty (v. 2). As it was 
in the time of the Apostle, so it is now. It was the poor 
widow who gave all. It was out of their deep poverty 
that the Macedonians were rich in liberality. There is 
something awful in those expressions of Scripture which 
speak of riches as shutting up the soul. " It is easier," 
said Christ, "for a camel to go through the eye of a 
needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of 
God:" "Not many mighty, not many noble are called," 
writes St. Paul. Again : (i Woe unto you that are rich ! 
for ye have received your consolation." Now we do not 
expect these sayings to be believed: they are explained 
away. No man fears riches. Yet it is a fact, generally, 
that a man's liberality does not increase in proportion as 
he grows rich. It is exactly the reverse. He extends 
his desires ; luxuries become necessaries. He must move 
in another sphere, keep more servants, and take a larger 
house. And so, in the end, his liberality becomes propor- 
tionately less than what it was before. Let any one who 
has experienced an advance of wealth compare his ex- 
penditure when he had but a few annual pounds, with 
his expenditure after he became rich. Let any one 
compare the sums given in charity by those of moderate 
income with the sums given by the wealthy. Here, in 
England, the rich give their hundreds, the poor their 
thousands. There are many things to account for this 
fact. The rich have large liabilities to meet: or they 
possess large establishments which must be kept up. 
There is a growing sense of money's value, when each 






TO THE CORINTHIANS. 469 

sovereign stands for so much. time. Still, whatever may 
be the mitigating circumstances, the fact remains. And 
the inferences from it are two : — 

1. Let this circumstance be a set-off against poverty 
and privations. God has made charity easier to you 
who are not the rich of this world, and saved you 
from many a sore temptation. It is written, " Better is a 
dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred 
therewith." 

Let this fact weaken the thirst for riches, which is the 
great longing of our day : " The wealthiest man among 
us is the best." Doubtless riches are a good ; but remember 
that the Bible, if it be true, is full of warnings respecting 
them. Think alone of this one : " They that will be rich 
fall into temptation and a snare." 

Fourthly: It is a peculiarity in Christian liberality that 
it is exhibited to strangers. In the case before us, the 
charity was displayed in behalf of the poor at Jerusalem, 
and was a contribution sent from Gentiles to Jews. Love 
of Christ, then, had bridged over that gulf of ancient hatred. 
The Spirit of Christ had been given in these words : " If 
ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do 
not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your 
brethren only, what do ye more than others ?" " But I 
say unto you, Love your enemies, do good to them that 
hate you." The power of these words, ratified by a Life, 
had spread through the ancient Church, and Gentile and 
Jew were united to each other by a common love. Now, 
I say, there is nothing but Christianity which can do this. 
Without Christ there must be dissension between race 
and race, family and family, man and man. Think of 



470 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

the old rancours of the heathen world. This spirit of 
dissension was the great question of ancient ages, and was 
the origin of their Avars. In times before the Dorian was 
matched against the Ionian, the Samaritan hated the Jew ; 
and the Jew shrank from the pollution of the Samaritan, 
and looked on the Gentile as an outcast; until He came, 
who " is our Peace, who hath made both one, and hath 
broken down the middle wall of partition." 

But, it is said, philanthropy does this. Philanthropy! 
It is a dream without Christ. Why should I love the 
negro or the foreigner? You can give no reason except 
an opinion. Why should I not be as exclusive as I 
please, and shrink from other nations, and keep up national 
hatreds, when even the analogy of nature is on my side, 
and I see the other inhabitants of this planet waging war 
on one another, bird with bird, beast with beast ? Well, 
in reply to that, Christianity reveals in Christ the truth 
which lies below our human nature — God. We are one 
in Christ — one Family. Human blessedness is impossible 
except through union one with another. But union is 
impossible except in God. 

This was the truth taught by the shew-bread piled upon 
the altar. Each loaf was offered for, and represented a 
tribe : and the whole twelve, with different characteristics 
and various interests, were yet one in God, and therefore 
one with each other. And this truth was realized in 
Christ, in whom all the tribes of the world and all the 
opposing elements of society meet and mingle. We have 
an altar whereof they have no right to eat that serve 
the tabernacle. 

These are the main characteristics of Christian liberality. 



TO TEE CORINTHIANS. 471 

But observe, this liberality is not necessarily the giving 
of money. Almsgiving is recommended in the Bible, 
but it is not necessarily the true form now in our altered 
state of things. For indiscriminate almsgiving is injurious 
both to the giver and the receiver : to the giver, as it 
encourages indolence ; to the receiver, as it prevents inde- 
pendence and exertion. Again, remember there may be 
true liberality, when a man gives nothing to religious 
societies. Suppose he spends his money in employing 
labour wisely, suppose he gives good wages, suppose he 
invests capital in enterprises which call out the highest 
qualities — then such a man, although directly giving 
nothing, indirectly gives much, and is charitable in the 
true sense of the word. 

II. Motives to Christian liberality. 

1. Christian completeness (v. 7). The Corinthians were 
orthodox : they had strong convictions of the liberty 
of Christianity. Gifts of eloquence abounded in the 
Church ; they were deeply grounded in truth : they were 
active in thought and active hi work — nay more, they 
had much zeal and love for their teachers ; and yet, with- 
out this liberality, their Christianity would have been 
most incomplete: "As ye abound in everything, in faith, 
and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in 
your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also." 
The same idea is fully worked out in the thirteenth chapter 
of the First Epistle. Moreover, this verse exhibits the true 
conception of Christianity : It is not a set of views, nor 
is it faith, nor devotional feeling : but it is completeness of 
Humanity. We are to grow up in the knowledge of 
Christ, till we all come in the nnitv of the faith and of 



472 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES 

the knowledge of the Son of God to perfect men — to the 
"measure of the stature and fulness of Christ." Again, 
St. Paul says : " This also we wish, even your perfec- 
tion : " and to the Thessalonians : " I pray God your whole 
spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless." And 
Christ places this high standard before His disciples as their 
aim : " Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which 
is in Heaven is perfect." For it is the work of Christ to 
take the whole man, and present him a living sacrifice to 
God. 

2. Another motive of Christian liberality is emulation. 
Compare verses one to eight of this chapter, and also the 
eleventh chapter of Romans, at the eleventh verse. Observe 
here the truth of Scripture. Ordinary, feeble philanthropy 
would say, "Emulation is dangerous." Cowper calls it 
parent of envy, hatred, jealousy, and pride. Yet there 
is such a feeling as emulation in our nature, and the Bible 
says it has a meaning ; nay, is not wrong, but in its place 
a true and right affection of Humanity. So St. Paul here 
took advantage of this feeling. The Macedonian church 
had raised the standard of Christian liberality high, and the 
Corinthians are stimulated not to fall below that standard. 

But had the Apostle said, " Be not beaten by those 
Macedonians" — had he called natural prejudices into play — 
a Corinthian to yield to a Macedonian ! then all the evil 
passions of our nature had been stimulated. In giving 
largely the Corinthians would have learned to hate the 
Macedonians ; and to give more for the sake of triumph- 
ing over them. Instead of this, St. Paul exhibits the 
Macedonians as worthy of admiration, and exhorts the 
Corinthians to enter the lists in honourable rivalry. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 473 

Herein, I believe, lies the difference : Emulation, meaning 
a desire to outstrip individuals, is a perverted feeling ; 
emulation, meaning a desire to reach and pass a standard, 
is a true feeling — the parent of all progress and of all 
excellence. Hence, set before you high models. Try to 
live with the most generous, and to observe their deeds. 
Unquestionably, good men set the standard of life. 

3. The last motive alleged is the example of Christ 
(ver. 9). Here we must observe, first, that Christ is the 
reference for everything. To Christ's Life and Christ's 
Spirit St. Paul refers all questions, both practical and 
speculative, for a solution. For all our mysterious human 
life refers itself back to Him. Christ's Life is the measure 
of the world. Observe, again, it is in spirit, and not in 
letter, that Christ is our example. The Corinthians were 
asked to give money for a special object; and Christ is 
brought forward as their example. But Christ did not give 
money, He gave Himself. His riches were perfect happi- 
ness ; His poverty was humiliation ; and He humbled 
Himself, that we, through His poverty, might be made 
rich. He gave Himself to bless the world. This, then, 
is the example ; and it is the spirit of that example which 
the Corinthians are urged to imitate. 

It was giving, it was Love that was the essence of the 
Sacrifice. The form was a secondary thing. It was Life 
in His case, it was money in theirs ; the one thing needful 
was a love like His, which was the desire to give, and to 
bless. 



474 LECTUEES ON THE EFISTLES 



LECTURE LIII. 

1853. 

2 Coeixthians, viii. 13-15. — "For I mean not that other men be eased, 
and ye burdened: — But by an equality, that now at this time your 
abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also 
may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality: — As it 
is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that 
had gathered little had no lack." 

The eighth chapter of the Second Epistle to the Corin- 
thians, the latter part of which we enter on to-day, con- 
cerns a contribution collected by St. Panl from the Gentile 
Christians for the Jewish Christians at Jerusalem. Part 
of this we have already expounded, namely, as regards the 
nature of Christian liberality, and the motives on which St. 
Paul uro-ed it. But there still remain several ooints which 
we had not time to consider in the last lecture, and which 
are, nevertheless, only a continuation of the same subject. 

Christian charity, we saw, was a " grace " of God, not 
merely useful, but also beautiful. We found it a thing 
whose true value is measured not by the amount given, 
but by the willingness of heart of the giver. We learnt, 
also, that it springs up in the soil of poverty, rather than 
in that of wealth. 

We considered, further, two motives on which St. Paul 
urges it: — 1. Christian completeness. 2. Christian emu- 
lation. To-day we take two points more : 

I. The spirit in which he urged Christian liberality. 
II. The additional motives which he brought to bear. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 475 

I. The Apostle spoke strongly ; not in the way of coer- 
cion, but of counsel and persuasion. In the eighth verse 
lie says, " I speak not by commandment ; " and again, 
in the tenth, " And herein I give my advice." Both 
expressions taken together mean simply : " I do not order 
tins, I only advise it." 

Now here is a peculiarity which belongs to the teaching 
to the Apostles. They never spoke as dictators, but only 
as counsellors. St. Peter says: " Neither as being lords 
over God's heritage." And St. Paul marks still more 
strongly the difference between the dictatorial authority of 
the priest, and the gentle helpfulness of the minister: 
" Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but 
are helpers of your joy." The Church of Pome practises 
a different system. There are two offices in that church, 
director and confessor. It is the duty of the confessor 
to deal with guilt, to administer punishment and abso- 
lution; and it is the duty of the director to deal with 
action, to solve cases of difficulty, to prescribe duties, and 
to arrange the course of life. Rome has reduced this to a 
system, and a mighty system it is. For when the confessor 
and director have done their work, the man is wholly, Will 
and Conscience, bound over to the obedience of the church. 
This is the righteousness at which Rome aims, to abrogate 
the individual will and conscience, and substitute the will 
and conscience of the church. But, remember, I select 
Rome simply because Rome has reduced it to a system. 
Do not think it is confined to Rome ; it belongs to human 
nature. There is not a minister or priest who is not 
exposed to the temptation which allures men to this prac- 
tice, to try to be a confessor and director to his people, to 



476 LECTUEES ON THE EPISTLES 

guide their conscience, to rule their wills, and to direct 
their charities. 

But observe how entirely alien this was from St. Paul's 
spirit. He of all men, the Apostle of liberty, could not 
have desired to bind men even to himself in subjection. He 
hated slavery : most of all, the slavery of mind and con- 
science ; nay, he consoled the slave, because he was free 
in heart to Christ (l Cor. vii. 21, 22). 

According to the Apostle, then, a Christian was one 
who, perceiving principles, in the free spirit of Jesus 
Christ, applied these principles for himself. As examples 
of this, remember the spirit in which he excommunicated 
(1 Cor. v. 12, 13) and absolved (2 Cor. ii. 10): and remark, 
in both these cases — where the priestly power would have 
been put forward, if anywhere, — the entire absence of all 
aim at personal influence or authority. St. Paul would not 
even command Philemon to receive his slave (Philemon, 
8, 9, 13, 14.) And in the case before us he would not 
order the Corinthians to give, even to a charity which he 
reckoned an important one. He would never have been 
pleased to have had the naming of all their charities and 
the marking oat of all their acts. He wanted them to be 
men, and not dumb, driven cattle. That pliable, docile, 
slavish mind, which the priest loves and praises, the Apostle 
Paul would neither have praised nor loved. 

II. Observe the spirit in which St. Paul appeals to the 
example of Christ (ver. 9). He urges the Corinthians to 
be liberal by the pattern of Christ. He places Him before 
them for imitation ; but observe in what spirit he does it : — 

1. Remark the tendency in the mind of St. Paul to 
refer everything back to Christ. Even when you least 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 477 

expect it, when there seems no similarity, he finds a 
precedent for every duty in some sentence or some act of 
Christ. For example, when the Apostle delivered his last 
charge to the weeping Church of Ephesns, he urged on 
them the duty of supporting the weak by loving labour, 
and enforced it thus : " I have shewed you all things. 
How that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and 
to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, 
It is more blessed to give than to receive." So in the 
case before us he is urging on the Church of Corinth to 
contribute money ; and at once he recurs back to the 
example of Christ: "Ye know the grace of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for our sakes 
He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be 
rich/' 

To a Christian mind Christ is all ; the measure of all 
things : the standard and the reference. All things centre 
in Him, The life and death of Christ got by heart, not 
by rote, must be the rule for every act. 

2. Remark, again, that St. Paul finds the parallel of 
Christian liberality, not in the literal acts, but in the 
Spirit of Christ. The liberality asked from the Corinthians 
was the giving of money ; the liberality of Christ was 
the giving of Himself. Literallv, there was no resem- 
blance ; but the spirit of both acts was the same : sacrifice 
was the law of both. In the act of giving money out 
of penury, the eagle eye of St. Paul discerns the same 
root principle — the spirit of the Cross — which was the 
essence of the Redeemer's sacrifice. 

This is the true use of the Life of Christ; it is the 
spirit of that Life to which we should attain. It is not 



478 LECTURES OX TILE EPISTLES 

by saying Christ's words, or by doing Christ's acts, but 
it is by breathing His spirit that we become like Him. 
For (i if any man have not the spirit of Christy he is none 
of His." 

Let ns observe the feeling with which St. Paul regarded 
Jesus, as we find it expressed in the ninth verse of 
this chapter. We cannot but remark how incompatible 
it is with the Socinian view of Christ's person. The 
doctrine taught by Socinianism was 3 that Christ was a 
mere man. The early followers of this creed held this 
doctrine on the authority of Scripture. They said that 
the Apostles never taught that He was more than man; 
and thev explained away all the passages in which the 
Apostles seemed to hint at the reverse. But here is a 
passage which defies misconstruction : " Though He was 
rich, yet for your sakes He became poor." When was 
Christ rich ? Here on earth, never : He whose cradle 
was a manger, and for whom the rich provided a grave ! 
There can be but one interpretation of the text. Christ 
was rich in that glory which He had with His Father 
before the world. 

There can be no mistake about what St. Paul thought. 
We hold this passage to be decisive as to St. Paul's feel- 
ing. Nor can you say that this belief in Christ's Divinity 
was a dogma separable from St. Paul's Christianity: this 
belief was his Christianity. For the difference between 
what he was from the hour when he saw his Master in 
the sky, and what he had previously been, was exactlv 
measured by the difference between the feeling with which 
he regarded Jesus when he considered Him as an impostor 
to be crushed, and the feeling in which he devoted all the 



TO THE CORINTHIAK& 479 

energies of his glorious nature to Him as his Lord and 
his God, whom to serve he felt was alone blessedness. 

3. Again, in St. Paul's spirit of entreaty, we remark 
the desire of reciprocity (ver. 13, 14, io). It might hare 
been supposed that because St. Paul was a Jew, he was 
therefore anxious for his Jewish brethren ; and that in 
urging the Corinthians to give liberally, even out of their 
poverty, he forgot the unfairness of the request, and was 
satisfied so long as only the Jews were relieved — it mat- 
tered not at whose expense. But, in answer to such a 
supposed reproach, the Apostle says, Si I mean not that 
other men be eased, and ye burdened" — but I desire an 
equality, I ask thai the rich may equalize his possessions 
with the poor. This is now a remarkable expression, 
because it is the watchword of Socialists. They cry 
out for equality in circumstances ; and the Apostle says, 
" Let there be equality of circumstances." It is worth 
while to think of this. 

The principle laid down is, that the abundance of the 
rich is intended for the supply of the poor ; and the illus- 
tration of the principle is drawn from a miracle in the 
wilderness : " As it is written, He that had gathered 
much had nothing over : and he that had gathered little 
had no lack." Here, then, in the wilderness, by a miracu- 
lous arrangement, if any one through greediness gathered 
more manna than enough, it bred worms, and became 
offensive : and if through weakness, or deep sorrow, or 
pain, any were prevented from collecting enough, still 
what they had collected was found to be sufficient. 

In this miracle St. Paul perceives a great universal 
principle of human life. God has given to every man 



480 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

a certain capacity and a certain power of enjoyment. 
Beyond that lie cannot find delight. Whatsoever he 
heaps or hoards beyond that, is not enjoyment, but dis- 
quiet. For example : If a man monopolizes to himself 
rest which should be shared by others, the result is 
unrest — the weariness of one on whom time hangs heavily. 
Again, if a man piles up wealth, all beyond a certain 
point becomes disquiet. Thus thought St. James : " Your 
gold and silver is cankered." You cannot escape the 
stringency of that law; he that gathereth much, hath 
nothing over. How strangely true is that old miracle ! 
How well life teaches us that whatever is beyond enough 
breeds worms, and becomes offensive ! 

We can now understand why the Apostle desired 
equality, and what that equality was which he desired. 
Equality with him meant reciprocation — the feeling of a 
true and loving brotherhood ; which makes each man feel, 
" My superabundance is not mine : it is another's : not to 
be taken by force, or wrung from me by law, but to be 
given freely by the law of love." 

Observe, then, how Christianity would soon solve all 
questions. Take as instances: What are the rights of 
the poor ? What are the duties of the rich ? After how 
much does possession become superabundance ? When 
has a man gathered too much? You cannot answer 
these questions by any science. Socialism cannot do it. 
Revolutions will try to do it, but they will only take 
from the rich and give to the poor ; so that the poor 
become rich, and the rich poor, and we have inequality 
back again. But give us the Spirit of Christ. Let us 
all become Christians. Let us love as Christ loved. Give 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 481 

us the spirit of sacrifice which the early Church had, 
when no man said that aught of the things he possessed 
was his own ; then each man's own heart will decide what 
is meant by gathering too much, and what is meant by 
Christian equality. 

We shall answer all such questions when we compre- 
hend the principle of this appeal : u Ye know the grace 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet 
for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His 
poverty might be rich." 



I I 



482 LECTURES ON TJIE EUSILES 



LECTURE LIY. 

March, 1853. 

2 Corinthians, viii. 16-24. — "But thanks be to God, which put the 
same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you. — For indeed he 
accepted the exhortation ; but being more forward, of his own accord 
he went unto you. — And we have sent with him the brother, whose 
praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches ; — And not that 
only, but who was also chosen of the churches to travel with us with 
this grace, which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord, 
and declaration of your ready mind : — Avoiding this, that no man 
should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us: — Pro- 
viding for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in 
the sight of men. — And we have sent with them our brother, whom we 
have oftentimes proved diligent in many things, but now much more 
diligent, upon the great confidence which I have in you. — Whether 
any do inquire of Titus, he is my partner and fellowhelper concerning 
you: or our brethren be inquired of, they are the messengers of the 
churches, and the glory of Christ. — Wherefore shew ye to them, and 
before the churches, the proof of your love, and of our boasting on 
your behalf." 

2 Corinthians, ix. 1-15. — " For as touching the ministering to the saints, 
it is superfluous for me to write to you: — For I know the forwardness 
of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that 
Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very 
many. — Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should 
be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready: — Lest 
haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, 
we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident 
boasting. — Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, 
that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your 
bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, 
as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness. — But this I say, 
He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which 
soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. — Every man accord- 
ing as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or 



TO THE COMXTHIANS. 483 

of necessity: for God lovetk a cheerful giver. — And God is able to 
make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all suffi- 
ciency in all things, may abound to every good work: — (As it is 
written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his 
righteousness remaineth for ever. — Xow he that ministereth seed to 
the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed 
sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;) — Being enriched 
in everything to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanks- 
giving to God. — For the administration of this service not only sup- 
plieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanks- 
givings unto God; — Whiles by the experiment of this ministration 
they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of 
Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men; 
— And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceed- 
ing grace of God in you. — Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable 
gift." 

The ninth chapter continues the subject of the collection 
for the poor Christians in Jerusalem, and with it we shall 
expound the close of the eighth chapter, which we left 
unfinished in our last lecture. 

We take three points for consideration : — 

I. The mode of collecting the contribution. 
II. The measure of the amount. 
III. The measure of the reward. 

I. Mode of collection. St. Paul intrusted this task to 
three messengers : — to Titus, who was himself eager to go ; 
to a Christian brother whom the churches had selected 
as their almoner ; and to another, whose zeal had been 
tested frequently by St. Paul himself. 

The reasons for sending these messengers are given 
in an apologetic explanation. The first was, to give the 
Corinthians time, in order that the appeal might not come 
at an inconvenient moment : " I have sent the brethren," 
writes St. Paul, " lest our boasting of you should be in 

112 



484 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

vain on this behalf: that, as I said, ye may be ready." 
Observe the tender wisdom of this proceeding. Every 
one knows how different is the feeling with which we 
give when charity is beforehand, from that with which 
we give when charitable collections come side by side 
with debts and taxes. The charity which finds us un- 
prepared is a call as hateful as that of any creditor whom 
it is hard to pay. St. Paul knew this well — he knew 
that if the Corinthians were taken unawares, their feelings 
would be exasperated towards him with shame, and also 
towards the saints at Jerusalem, to whom they were con- 
strained to give. Therefore, he gave timely notice. 

Again, he had sent to tell them of the coming of these 
messengers, in order to preserve their reputation for charity. 
For, if the Corinthians were not ready, their inability to 
pay would be exhibited before the 3-1 acedonian church, and 
before the messengers ; and from this St. Paul wished to 
save them. 

Observe here two points: — First, the just value which 
the Apostle set on Christian reputation. For the inability 
of the Corinthians to meet the demands made on them 
would be like insolvency in mercantile phrase, and would 
damage their character. We all know how insolvency 
damages the man, how he feels humbled by it in his own 
sight, and "ashamed" before men. Such a man dare not 
look the collector or the creditor in the face ; or, if he dare, 
it is through effrontery contracted by a habit which is 
hardened against shame : or, there are mean subterfuges 
which accustom the mind to the deceit it once hated : or, 
if there be none of these, or the man be too true or 
haughty to bend to such things, there are other sights 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 485 

and thoughts which tear a proud heart to pieces. In any 
way, the man is injured by insolvency. 

Secondly : Observe the delicacy of the mode in which 
the hint is given : " We (that we say not, ye) may not 
be ashamed." St. Paul makes it a matter of personal 
anxiety, as if the shame and fault of non-payment would 
be his. In this there was no subtle policy ; there was no 
attempt to get at their purses by their weak side. St. 
Paul was above such means. It was natural, instinctive, 
real delicacy : and yet it was the surest way of obtaining 
what he wished, and that which the deepest knowledge 
of the human heart would have counselled. For thereby 
he appealed not to their selfish, but to their most unselfish 
feelings : he appealed to their gratitude, their generosity, 
to everything which was noble or high within them. The 
Corinthians would feel — We can bear the shame of delin- 
quency ourselves, but we cannot bear that Paul should be 
disgraced. This is a great principle — one of the deepest 
you can have for life and action. Appeal to the highest 
motives; appeal whether they be there or no, for you make 
them where you do not find them. Arnold trusted his 
boys, avowing that he believed what they affirmed, and 
all attempt at deceiving him ceased forthwith. When 
Christ appealed to the love in the heart of the sinful 
woman, that love broke forth pure again. She loved, 
and He trusted that affection, and the lost one was saved. 
Let men say what they will of human nature's evil, a 
generous, real, unaffected confidence never fails to elicit 
the Divine spark. 

Thirdly : It was in order to preserve his own reputation 
that St. Paul shielded himself from censure bv consulting 1 



486 LECTUPES ON THE EPISTLES 

appearances , for if so large a sum had been intrusted to 
liim alone, an opening would have been left for the sus- 
picion of appropriating a portion to himself. Therefore, 
in the twentieth and twenty-first verses, he especially 
(l avoids " this imputation by saying " that no man should 
blame us in this abundance which is administered by us : 
providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the 
Lord, but also in the sight of men." In this is to be 
observed St. Paul's wisdom, not only as a man of the world, 
but as a man of God. He knew that he lived in a cen- 
sorious age, that he was as a city set on a hill, that the 
world would scan his every act and his every word, and 
attribute all conceivable and even inconceivable evil to 
what he did in all honour. 

Now, it was just because of St. Paul's honour and inno- 
cence that he was likely to have omitted this prudence. 
Just because the bare conception of malversation of the 
funds was impossible to him, we might have expected 
him to forget that the world would not think it equally 
impossible. For to the pure all things are pure, to the 
honest and the innocent suspicion seems impossible. It 
was just because St. Paul felt no evil himself, that he 
might have thoughtlessly placed himself in an equivocal 
position. 

It is to such — men guileless of heart, innocent of even 
the thought of dishonesty, children in the way of the 
world — that Christ says, "Be ye wise as serpents." 
Consider how defenceless St, Paul would have been had 
the accusation been made! Who was to prove that the 
charge of peculation was false? The defence would rest 
on St. Paul alone. Moreover, though he were to be 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 487 

acquitted as free from guilt, a charge refuted is not as if a 
charge had never been made. The man once accused 
goes forth into society never the same as before ; he keeps 
lis position, he practises his profession, his friends know 
lim to be true and honest ; but, for years after, the 
oblivious world, remembering only the accusation, and 
forgetting the fulness of the refutation, asks, " But were 
there not some suspicious circumstances ? " 

It is difficult to be for ever cautious, to be always think- 
ing about appearances : it may be carried too far — to a 
servility for the opinions of men : but in all cases like this 
of St. Paul, a wise prudence is necessary. Experience 
-.eaches this by bitter lessons as life goes on. No inno- 
cence will shield, no honour, nor integrity bright as the 
sun itself, will keep off altogether the biting breath of 
calumny. Charity tldnketh no evil, but charity is rare; 
and to the Avorld the honour of an Apostle Paul is not 
above suspicion. Therefore it is that he says : " Let not 
your good be evil spoken of." Therefore it is that he, 
avoiding the possibility of this, sent messengers to collect 
the mone} T , u providing for things honest in the sight of 
all men." 

IT. The measure of the amount. The Apostle did not 
name a sum to the Corinthians : he would not be lord 
over their desires, or their reluctance ; but he gave them 
a measure according to which he exhorted them to con- 
tribute, 

First, then, he counselled them to be liberal : ei As a 
matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness." Secondly, 
he asked them to give deliberately : " Every man accord- 
ing as he purposeth in his heart." Thirdly, the Apostle 



488 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

exhorted the Corinthians to bestow cheerfully : " Not 
grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth the cheerful 
giver." 

It was one aim of St. Paul, in sending beforehand 
to the Corinthians, that they might be able to give largely, 
not stintingly or avariciously. Here we may observe that 
the Apostle did not speak, as we often preach — in aa 
impassioned manner, in order to get a large collection of 
money, — trying by rhetoric and popular arts, by appeal* 
to feeling and to personal influence, to gain his end. No 
he left the amount to themselves. Yet he plainly told them 
that a large contribution was what God asked. Remem- 
ber that the solemnity of this appeal has no parallel now : 
it was almost a solitary appeal. But now — now, when 
charities abound, to speak with the same vehemence on 
every occasion, to invoke the name of God, as if to with- 
hold from this and that charity were guilt, is to mis- 
apply St. Paul's precedent. In the multitudinous charities 
for which you are solicited, remember one thing only — 
give liberally somewhere, in God's name, and to God's 
cause. But the cases must depend on yourselves, and 
should be conscientiously adopted. 

The second measure of the amount was that it should 
be deliberate : " Every man according as he purposeth in 
his heart." 

Let us distinguish this deliberate charity from giving 
through mere impulse. Christian charity is a calm, wise 
thing ; nay, sometimes, it will appear to a superficial 
observer a very hard thing — for it has courage to refuse. 
A Christian man will not give to everything; — he will 
not give because it is the fashion ; he will not give because 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 4S9 

an appeal is very impassioned, or because it touches his 
sensibilities. He gives as lie ee purposeth in his heart." 
Here I remark again, that often the truest charity is 
not giving, but employing. To give indiscriminately now 
often ruins by producing improvidence. In the days 
of the Apostle things were different. The Jew who be- 
came a Christian lost all employment. Remember, too, 
with respect to charitable collections, that charity should 
be deliberate. Men often come determined beforehand to 
give according to the eloquence of the appeal, not accord- 
ing to a calm resolve, and from a sense of a debt of love 
to God, which rejoices in giving. I do not say that a man 
is never to give more than he meant, when touched by 
the speaker ; because, generally, men mean to give too 
little. But I say that it is an unhealthy state of things, 
when a congregation leave their charity dependent on 
their ministerial sympathies. Let men take their responsi- 
bilities upon themselves. It is not a clergyman's business 
to think for his congregation, but to help them to judge 
fur themselves. Hence, let Christian men dare to refuse 
as well as dare to give. A congregational collection 
should not be obtained by that mere force of eloquence 
which excites the sensibilities, and awakens a sudden and 
shortlived impulse of giving, but it should rather be to 
them an opportunity to be complied with " as every man 
purposeth in his heart." 

III. The measure of the reward. — The measure of all 
spiritual rewards is exactly proportioned to the acts done. 
The law of the spiritual harvest is twofold : — 1. A propor- 
tion in reference to quantity. 2. A proportion in reference 
to kind. 



490 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

1. In reference to quantity: "He which so-weth spa- 
ringly shall reap also sparingly." Hence may be inferred 
the principle of degrees of glory hereafter. In the Parable 
of the Talents, each multiplier of his money received a 
reward exactly in proportion to the amount he had gained ; 
and each, of course, was rewarded differently. Again: 
" He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet," 
— that is, because he was a prophet, — "shall receive a 
prophet 's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man 
in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous 
man's reward." "They that be wise shall shine as the 
brightness of the firmament" — that is their reward ; " and 
they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for 
ever and ever" — a reward different from the former. The 
right hand and left of Christ in His kingdom are given 
only to those who drink of His cup and are baptized with 
His baptism. Thus there is a peculiar and appropriate 
reward for every act ; only remember, that the reward is 
not given for the merit of the act, but follows on it as 
inevitably in the spiritual kingdom, as wheat springs from 
its grain, and barley from its grain, in the natural world. 
Because this law of reward exists, we are given encourage- 
ments to labour : " Let us not be weary in well doing, 
for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not :" Again : 
" Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, im- 
moveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, 
forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in 
the Lord." 

2. In reference to kind. The reward of an act of charity 
is kindred with the act itself. But St. Paul lays down 
the broad law: "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he 



TO THE COEINTHIAXS. 491 

also reap." He reaps, there fore, not something else, but 
that very thing which he sows. So in the world of nature, 
a harvest of wheat comes not from sown barley, nor do 
oak forests arise from beech mast, but each springs from 
its own kind ; the (i herb yielding seed after his kind, and 
the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his 
kind." Thus also is it in the spiritual world. He that 
soweth to the flesh shall not reap of the spirit, nor shall he 
who soweth to the spirit reap of the flesh. 

Now here often a strange fallacy arises. Men sow 
their carnal things — give their money, for example — to 
God ; and because they have apparently sown carnal things 
to God, they expect to reap the same. For instance, in 
pagan times, fishermen or farmers sacrificed their respec- 
tive properties, and expected a double fishery or harvest 
in return. The same pagan principle has come down to us. 
Some persons give to a Jews' conversion society, or to a 
Church Missionary society, and confidently hope for a 
blessing on their worldly affairs as a result. They are 
liberal to the poor, " lending to the Lord," in order that 
He may repay them with success in business, or an advance 
in trade. 

The fallacy lies in this : the thing sown was not money, 
but spirit. It only seemed money, it was in reality the 
feeling with which it was given which was sown. For 
example, the poor widow gave two mites, but God took 
account of sacrifice. The sinful woman gave an alabaster 
box of ointment, valued by a miserable economist at three 
hundred pence. God valued it as so much love. Both 
these sowed not what they gave, but spiritual seed : one 
love, the other sacrifice. Now God is not going to pay 



492 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

these things in coin of this earth : He will not recompense 
Sacrifice with success in business, nor Love with a legacy 
or a windfall. He will repay them with spiritual coin 
in kind. 

In the particular instance now before us, what are the 
rewards of liberality which St. Paul promises to the 
Corinthians ? They are, first, — The Love of God (ver. 7). 
Secondly: A spirit abounding to every good work (ver. 8). 
Thirdly: Thanksgiving on their behalf (ver. 11, 12, 13). 
A noble harvest ! but all spiritual. Comprehend the 
meaning of it well. Give, and you will not get back 
again. Do not expect your money to be returned, like 
that of Joseph's brethren, in their sacks' mouths. When 
you give to God, sacrifice, and know that what you give 
is sacrificed, and is not to be got again, even in this 
world ; for if you give, expecting it back again, there 
is no sacrifice : charity is no speculation in the spiritual 
funds, no wise investment, to be repaid with interest either 
in time or eternity ! 

No ! the rewards are these: Do right, and God's recom- 
pence to you will be the power of doing more right. Give, 
and God's reward to you will be the spirit of giving more: 
a blessed spirit, for it is the Spirit of God himself, whose 
Life is the blessedness of giving. Love, and God will pay 
you with the capacity of more love ; for love is Heaven — 
love is God within you. 



TO THE COBINTHIANS. 493 



LECTURE LY. 

March 20, 1853. 

2 Corinthians, x. 1-18. — " Xowl Paul myself beseech you by the meekness 
and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but 
being absent am bold toward j r ou: — But I beseech you, that I may 
not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I 
think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked 
according to the flesh. — For though we walk in the flesh, we do not 
war after the flesh: — (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, 
but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) — 
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself 
against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every 
thought to the obedience of Christ; — And having in a readiness to 
revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. — Do ye 
look on things after the outward appearance ? If any man trust to 
himself that he is Christ's, let him of himself think this again, that, as 
he is Christ's, even so are we Christ's. — For though I should boast 
somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us for 
edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed: — 
That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters. — For his 
letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence 
is weak, and his speech contemptible. — Let such an one think this, 
that, such as we are in word by letters when we are absent, such will 
we be also in deed when we are present. — For we dare not make our- 
selves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend 
themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and com- 
paring themselves among themselves, are not wise. — But we will not 
boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of 
the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even 
unto you. — For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure, as 
though we reached not unto you: for we are come as far as to you 
also in preaching the gospel of Christ: — Not boasting of things with- 
out our measure, that is, of other men's labours; but having hope, 
when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you accord- 
ing to our rule abundantly, — To preach the Gospel in the regions 



494 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES 

beyond you, and not to boast in another man's line of things made 
ready to our hand. — But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord — 
For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord 
commendeth." 

The Second Epistle has till now been addressed to those 
in Corinth who felt either love or admiration for St. Paul, 
certainly to those who owned his authority. But with 
the tenth chapter there begins a new division of the 
Epistle. Henceforth we have St. Paul's reply to his 
enemies at Corinth, and his vindication is partly official 
and partly personal. They denied his apostolic authority 
and mission, declared that he had not been appointed by 
Christ, and endeavoured to destroy his personal influence 
in the Church by sneers at his bodily weakness, his incon- 
sistency, and his faithlessness to his promise of coming to 
Corinth, which they imputed to a fear of his own weakness 
of character. Powerful enough in letter-writing, said 
they, but when he comes, his presence, his speech, are 
weak and contemptible. To these charges St. Paul 
answers in the remaining chapter. We will consider two 
subjects : — 

I. The impugners of his authority. 

II. His vindication. 

I. The impugners of his authority. It is necessary to 
distinguish these into two classes, the deceivers and the 
deceived ; else we could not understand the difference of 
tone, sometimes meek, and sometimes stern, which per- 
vades the Apostle's vindication. For example, compare 
the second verse of this chapter with the first, and you 
must remark the different shades of feeling under which 



TO THE COEIXTHIAXS. 495 

eacli was written. This change of tone he liimseL 
acknowledges in the fifth chapter of this Epistle : " For 
whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God ; or whether 
we be sober, it is for your cause." His enemies had 
been embittered against him by the deference paid to 
him by the rest of the church. Hence they tried to 
make him suspected. They charged him with insincerity 
(2 Cor. i. 12, 1.3, is, 19.) They said he was ever pro- 
mising to come, and never meaning it ; and that he was 
only powerful in writing (2 Cor. x. 10). They accused 
him of mercenary motives, of a lack of apostolic gifts, 
and of not preaching the Gospel. They charged him 
with artifices. His Christian prudence and charity were 
regarded as means whereby he allured and deceived his 
followers. We must also bear in mind that it was a party 
spirit with which the Apostle had to deal : " Now this I 
say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul ; and I of 
Apollos; and I of Cephas ; and I of Christ" (1 Cor. i. 12.) 
Xow, we are informed in this chapter, that of all these 
parties his chief difficulty lay with that party which called 
itself Christ's. This was not the school inclined to ritual, 
which followed St. Peter, nor the Pauline party, which set 
its face against all Jewish practices, and drove liberty 
into licence ; nor yet that which had perhaps a disposition 
to rationalize, and followed Apollos, who, having been 
brought up at Alexandria, had most probably spent his 
youth in the study of literature and philosophy. But it 
was a party who, throwing off all authority, even though 
it was apostolic, declared that they received Christ alone 
as their Head, and that Pie alone should directly com- 
municate truth to them. 



496 LECTURES ON TEE EPISTLES 

First, then, let us observe, that though these persons 
called themselves Christ's, they are nevertheless blamed in 
the same list with others. And yet what conld seem to 
be more right than for men to say, " We will bear no 
name but Christ's ; we throw ourselves on Christ's own 
words — on the Bible; we throw aside all intellectual 
philosophy: we will have no servitude to ritualism?" 
Nevertheless, these persons were just as bigoted and as 
blameable as the others. They were not wrong in calling 
themselves Christ's ; but they were wrong in naming them- 
selves so distinctively. It is plain that by assuming this 
name, they implied that they had a right to it more than 
others had. They did not mean to say only, "We are 
Christ's," but also, " You are not Christ's." God was not, 
in their phraseology, our Father, but rather the Father of 
our party ; the Father of us only who are the elect. In 
their mouths that Name became no longer comprehensive, 
but exclusive. Thus St. Paul blamed all who, instead of 
rejoicing that they were Christians, prided themselves on 
being a particular kind of Christians. The great doctrine 
of one Baptism taught the feeling of Christian brotherhood. 
All were Christ's : all belonged to Him : no one sect was 
His exclusively, or dared to claim Him as their Head more 
than another. 

This is a feeling which is as much to be avoided now as 
it was in the time of the Apostle. We split ourselves 
into sects, each of which asserts its own peculiar Chris- 
tianity. This sectarianism falsifies the very principle of 
our religion, and therefore falsifies its forms. It falsifies 
the Lord's Prayer. It substitutes for our Father, the 
Father of me, of my church or party. It falsifies the 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 497 

creed : " I believe in Jesus Christ our Lord." It falsifies 
botli the sacraments. No matter how large, or true, or 
beautiful the name by which we call ourselves, we are for 
ever tending to the sectarian spirit when we assume some 
appellation which cuts others off from participation with 
us : when we call ourselves, for example, Bible Christians, 
Evangelicals, Churchmen — as if no one but ourselves 
deserved the name. 

Secondly, let us observe, that, however Christian this 
expression may sound, " We will take Christ for our 
teacher, and not His Apostles or His Church," the spirit 
which prompts it is wrong. This Christ-party amongst 
the Corinthians depreciated the Church, in order to exalt 
the Lord of the Church ; but they did so wrongly, and 
at the peril of their religious life. For God's order is 
the historical; and these men separated themselves from 
God's order when they claimed an arbitrary distinction for 
themselves, and rejected the teaching of St. Paul and the 
Apostles, to whom the development of the meaning of 
Christ's doctrine had been intrusted. For the phase of 
truth presented by St. Paul was just as necessary as 
that prominently taught by Christ. Not that Christ did 
not teach all truth, but that the hidden meaning of His 
teaching was developed still further by the inspired 
Apostles. 

We cannot, at this time, cut ourselves off from the 
teaching of eighteen centuries, and say, " We will have 
none but Christ to reign over us ;" nor can we proclaim, 
'•'Not the Church, but the Lord of the Church." We 
cannot do without the different shades and phases of 
knowledge which God's various instruments, in accord- 

K K 



498 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

ance with their various characters and endowments, have 
delivered to us. For God's system is mediatorial, that is, 
truth to men communicated through men. 

See, then, how, as in Corinth, the very attempt to 
separate from parties may lead to a sectarian spirit, 
unless we can learn to see good in all, and Christ in all. 
And should we, as this Christ-party did, desert human 
instrumentality, we sink into self-will: we cut ourselves 
from the Church of God, and fall under the popery of our 
own infallibility. 

What dangers on every side ! God shield us ! For 
these present days are like those of which we are speak- 
ing. The same tendencies are appearing again : some are 
disposed to unduly value law and ritual, some aspire to 
a freedom from all law, some incline to literary religion, 
and some, like the Christ-party here spoken of, to pietism 
and subjective Christianity. Hence it is that the thought- 
ful study of these Epistles to the Corinthians is so valuable 
in our time, when nothing will avert the dangers which 
threaten us but the principles which St. Paul. drew from 
the teaching of Christ, and has laid down here for the 
admonition of His Church at Corinth. 

II. His vindication. St. Paul vindicated his authority, 
because it was founded on the power of meekness, and it 
was a spiritual power in respect of that meekness. The 
weapons of his warfare were not carnal : " Though we 
walk in the flesh," he says, " we do not war after the flesh,'* 
— that is, We do not use a worldly soldier's weapons, — 
we contend, not with force, but with meekness of wis- 
dom and with the persuasiveness of truth. This was one 
of the root principles of St. Paul's ministry: If he re- 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 499 

provecl, it was clone in the spirit of meekness (Gal vi. l) ; 
or if lie defended his own authority, it was still with the 
same spirit (2 Cor. x. 1). Again, when the time of his 
departure was at hand, and he would leave his last in- 
structions to his son Timothy, he closes his summary of 
the character of ministerial work by showing the need 
of meekness : " The servant of the Lord must not strive, 
but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meek- 
ness instructing those that oppose themselves." 

Here again, according to his custom, the Apostle refers 
to the example of Christ. He besought the Corinthians 
" by the meekness and gentleness of Christ." He vindi- 
cated his authorit}^, because he had been meek, as Christ 
was meek: for not by menace, nor by force, did He 
conquer, but by the might of gentleness and the power 
of meekness : " Who, when He was reviled, reviled not. 
again ; when He suffered, He threatened not." On that 
foundation St. Paul built; it was that example which he 
imitated in his moments of trial, when he was reproved 
and censured. He confessed his own " baseness of ap- 
pearance : " when others had low thoughts of him, he had 
low ones of himself. 

Thus it happened that one of the Apostle's (i mightiest 
weapons " was the meekness and lowliness of heart which 
he drew from the Life of Christ. So it ever is. Humility, 
after all, is the best defence. It disarms and conquers 
by the majesty of submission. To be humble and loving 
— that is true life. Do not let insult harden you, nor 
cruelty rob you of tenderness. If men wound your 
heart, let them not embitter it; and then yours will be 
the victory of the Cross. You will conquer as Christ 

E E 2 



500 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

conquered, and bless as He blessed. But, remember, fine 
words about gentleness, self-sacrifice, meekness, are worth 
very little. Talking of the nobleness of humility and self- 
surrender is not believing in them. Would you believe 
in the Cross and its victory ? then live in its spirit — act 
upon it. 

Again, St. Paul rested his authority not on carnal 
weapons, but on the spiritual power of truth. Consider 
the strongholds which the Apostle had to pull down and 
subdue. There were the sophistries of the educated, 
and the ignorant prejudices of the multitude. There 
were the old habits which clung to the christianized 
heathen. There was the pride of intellect in the arrogant- 
Greek philosophers, and the pride of the flesh in the 
Jewish love of signs. There was — most difficult of all— 
the pride of ignorance. All these strongholds were to be 
conquered : every thought was to be brought " into cap- 
tivity to the obedience of Christ." 

For this work St. Paul's sole weapon was Truth. The 
ground on which he taught was not authority: but "by 
manifestation of the truth" he commended himself to 
"every man's conscience." His power rested on no carnal 
weapon, on no craft or personal influence ; but it rested 
on the strong foundation of the truth he taught. He 
felt that truth must prevail. So neither by force did St. 
Paul's authority stand, nor on his inspired Apostleship, 
but simply by the power of persuasive truth. The truth 
he spoke would, at last, vindicate his teaching and his 
life; and he calmly trusted himself to God and time. 
A grand, silent lesson for us now ! when the noises of 
a hundred controversies stun the Church : when we are 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 50 1 

trying to force our own tenets on our neighbours, and 
denounce those who differ from us, foolishly thinking 
within ourselves that the wrath of man will work the 
righteousness of God. 

Rather, Christian men, let us teach as Christ and His 
Apostles taught. Force no one to God; menace no one 
into religion : but convince all by the might of truth. 
Should any of you have to bear attacks on your cha- 
racter, or life, or doctrine, defend yourself with meekness : 
and if defence should but make matters worse — and when 
accusations are vague, as is the case but too often — why, 
then, commit yourself fully to truth. Outpray — outpreach 
— outlive the calumny ! 



502 LECTURES (XN T THE EPISTLES 



LECTURE LVL 

1853. 

2 Corinthians, xii. 1-21. — "It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. 
I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. — I knew a man in 
Christ about fourteen years ago, (whether iu the body, I cannot tell; 
or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an 
one caught up to the third heaven. — And I knew such a man, (whe- 
ther in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) — 
How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable 
words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. — Of such an one will 
I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities. — For 
though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say 
the truth : but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above 
that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me. — And lest I 
should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the reve- 
lations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of 
Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. — For this 
tiling I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. — 
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength 
is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather 
glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. — 
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, 
in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, 
then am I strong. — I am become a fool in glorying; ye have com- 
pelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in 
nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be 
nothing. — Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in 
all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds. — For what is it 
wherein you were inferior to other churches, except it be that I 
myself was not burdensome to you? forgive me this wrong. — Behold, 
the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burden- 
some to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought 
not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. — And 
I will very gladly spend and be spent for you: though the more 
abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. — But be it so, I did not 



TO THE COKINTHIAaS. 503 

burden you: nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile. — 
Did I make a gain of you by any of them whom I sent unto you ? — 
I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make 
a gain of you ? walked we not in the same spirit ? walked we not in 
the same steps. — Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? 
we speak before God in Christ: but Ave do all things, dearly beloved, 
for your edifying. — For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you 
such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would 
not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whis- 
perings, swellings, tumults: — And lest, when I come again, my God 
will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which 
have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and 
fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed." 

The Apostle Paul, in the preceding chapter, had adduced 
evidence of the greatness of his sufferings in his witness to 
the truths he had received from Christ. The extent of 
his labours was proved by his sufferings, and both were, 
in a manner, an indirect proof of his apostleship. In the 
passage we consider to-day — a passage of acknowledged 
difficulty — he advances a direct proof of his apostolic mis- 
sion. Let us, however, before proceeding, understand the 
general structure of the passage. The point in question 
all along has been St. Paul's authority. The Corinthians 
doubted it, and in these verses, in proof of it, he alleges 
certain spiritual communications of a preternatural kind 
which had been made to him. To these he adds, in the 
twelfth verse, certain peculiar trials ; all of which to- 
gether made up his notion of apostolic experience. A man 
divinely gifted, and divinely tried — that was an Apostle. 
But it is remarkable that he reckons the trials as a 
greater proof of apostleship than the marvellous expe- 
riences (ver. 9). 

There is but one difficulty to clog this outset. It would 
seem that St. Paul, in reference to the revelations, is not 



504 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

speaking of himself, hut of another man (ver. 1—5) ; more 
especially in the fifth verse : " Of such an one will I glory: 
yet of myself I will not glory, hut in mine infirmities." 
Nevertheless, the fact of St. Paul's identity with the person 
he speaks of is heyond a douht. All difficulty is set at rest 
hy the sixth and seventh verses, where he allows that the 
man so favoured is himself. 

It remains only to ask how St. Paul came to speak 
of himself under the personality of another. For this I 
suggest two reasons : — 1. Natural diffidence. For the 
more refined and courteous a man is, the more he will 
avoid, in conversation, a direct mention of himself; and, 
in like manner, as civilization advances, the disinclination 
to write even of self in the first person is shown by 
the use of the terms " the author " and " we," men 
almost unconsciously acting in that spirit of delicacy 
which forbids too open an obtrusion of oneself upon the 
public. 

That this delicacy was felt by St. Paul is evident from 
what he says in the fourth chapter of the First Epistle, 
in the sixth verse, and from the whole of that chapter, 
where he speaks of " labourers," " ministers," and of the 
Apostles generally, though all the while the particular 
person meant is himself. From this twelfth chapter and 
from the eleventh, it is evident all along that he has been 
forced to speak of self only by a kind of compulsion. 
Fact after fact of his own experiences is, as it were, 
wrung out, as if he had not intended to tell it. For there 
is something painful to a modest mind in the direct use of 
the personal pronoun " I," over which an humble spirit 
like the Apostle's throws a veil. 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 505 

2. The second reason I suggest for this suppression of 
the first person is, that St. Paul chose to recognize this 
higher experience as not entirely yet his true self. He 
speaks of a divided experience of two selves, two Pauls : 
one Paul in the third heaven, enjoying the heatific vision : 
another yet on earth, struggling, tempted, tried, and buf- 
feted by Satan. The former he chose rather to regard 
as the Paul that was to be. He dwelt on the latter as the 
actual Paul coming down to the prose of life to find his 
real self, lest he should be tempted to forget or mistake 
himself in the midst of the heavenly revelations. 

Such a double nature is in us all. In all there is an 
Adam and a Christ — an ideal and a real. Numberless 
instances will occur to us in the daily experience of life; 
the fact is shown, for example, in the strange discrepancy 
so often seen between the writings of the poet or the ser- 
mons of the preacher, and their actual lives. And yet in 
this there is no necessary hypocrisy, for the one represents 
the man's aspiration, the other his attainment. In that 
very sentence, however, there may be a danger ; for is it 
not dangerous to be satisfied with mere aspirations and 
fine sayings? The Apostle felt it was; and, therefore, 
he chose to take the lowest — the actual self — and call that 
Paul, treating the highest as, for the time, another man. 
Hence in the fifth verse he says : " Of such an one will 
I glory : yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine in- 
firmities." Were the crawling caterpillar to feel within 
himself the wings that are to be, and be haunted with in- 
stinctive forebodings of the time when he shall hover above 
flowers and meadows, and expatiate in heavenly air, — yet 
the wisdom of that caterpillar would be to remember his 



508 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

present business on the leaf, to feed on green herbs, and 
weave his web, lest, losing himself in dreams, he should 
never become a winged insect at all. In the same manner, 
it is our wisdom, lest we become all earthy, to remember 
that our visions shall be realized, but also it is our wisdom, 
lest we become mere dreamers, or spiritually " puffed up," 
to remember that the aspiring man within us is not yet 
our true self, but as it were, another man — the w Christ 
within us, the hope of glory." 

Our subject to-day, then, is " spiritual ecstacy." 

I. The time when this vision took place — " Fourteen 
years ago." The date is vague, (i about fourteen years 
ago," and is irreconcilable with any exact point in our 
confused chronology of the life of St. Paul. But some 
have supposed that this vision was identical with that 
recorded (Acts, ix.) at his conversion; but it is evidently 
different : — 

First : Because the words in that transaction were not 
" unlawful to utter." They are three times recorded in 
the Acts, with no reserve or reticence at all. 

Secondly : Because there was no doubt as to St. Paul's 
own locality in that vision. He has twice recorded his 
own experience of it in terms clear and unmistakeable. 
His spirit did not even seem to him to be caught up. He 
saw, external to him above, a light, and heard a voice, 
himself all the while consciously living upon earth : nay, 
more, so far from being exalted, he was stricken to the 
ground. Here, however, the difficulty to the Apostle's 
mind is, not respecting the nature of the revelation, but 
how and where he was himself situated : " Whether in the 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 507 

body, or out of the body, I cannot tell." He was not 
psychologist enough for that. 

Thirdly: The vision which met him on the road to 
Damascus was of an humbling character : " Saul, Saul, 
why persecutest thou me?" In that sorrow-giving question 
there was no ground for spiritual pride. On the other 
hand, in this case, the vision was connected with a ten- 
dency to pride and vain-glory. For, lest he should be 
puffed up "beyond measure," a messenger of Satan came 
to buffet him. 

So, evidently, the first appearance was at the outset of 
his Christian life ; the other, in the fulness of his Christian 
experience, when, through deep sufferings and loss for 
Christ's sake, prophecies of rest and glory hereafter came 
to his soul to sustain and comfort him. And thus, in 
one of those moments of high hope, he breaks forth : 
" Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh 
for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." 

II. This very circumstance, however, that it was not 
the vision which occurred to him near Damascus, reveals 
something more to us. By our proof to the contrary, we 
have reaped not a negative gain, but a positive one. If 
the vision here spoken of had been that at his conversion, 
it would have been alone in his experience. There could 
come afterwards no other like it. But if it was not, then 
the ecstacy mentioned in this chapter did not stand alone 
in St. Paul's experience. It was not the first, — no, nor the 
last. He had known of many such, for he speaks of the 
" abundance of the revelations " given to him (ver. 7). 
This marks out the man. Indeed, to comprehend the 
visions, we must comprehend the man. For God gives 



508 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLES 

visions at His own will, and yet according to certain laws. 
He does not inspire every one. He does not reveal His 
mysteries to men of selfish, or hard, or phlegmatic tem- 
peraments. But when He gives preternatural communica- 
tions, then He prepares beforehand by a peculiar spiritual 
sensitiveness. Just as, physically, certain sensitivenesses 
to sound and colour qualify men to become gifted 
musicians and painters, — so, spiritualty, certain strong 
original susceptibilities mark out the man who will be the 
recipient of strange gifts, and see strange sights of God, 
and experience deep feelings, immeasurable by the ordi- 
nary standard. 

Such a man was St. Paul — a very wondrous nature — the 
Jewish nature in all its strength. We all know that the 
Jewish temperament peculiarly fitted men to be the organs 
of a Revelation. Its fervour, its moral sense, its venera- 
tion, its indomitable will, all adapted the highest sons of 
the nation for receiving hidden truths, and communi- 
cating them to others. Now all this was, in its fulness, 
in St. Paul. A heart, a brain, and a soul of fire: all his 
life a suppressed volcano ; — his acts " living things with 
hands and feet;" his words, "half battles." A man, 
consequently, of terrible inward conflicts: his soul a 
battle-field for heaven and hell. Read, for example, the 
seventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, describing 
his struggle under the law. You will find there no 
dull metaphysics about the "bondage of the will," or the 
difference between conscience and will. It is all intensely 
personal. St. Paul himself descends into the argument, 
as if the experience he describes were present then ! " O 
wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the 



TO THE COKINTHIANS. 509 

body of this death ? " So, too, in the sixteenth chapter of 
the Acts. He had no abstract perception of Macedonia's 
need of the Gospel. To his soul a man of Macedonia 
presents himself in the night, crying, " Come over, and 
help us." Again, we find in the eighteenth chapter of 
the Acts, that while the Apostle was at Corinth, beset 
with trials, surrounded by the Jews thirsting for his 
blood, a message came in a vision, and the Lord spoke 
to him, telling him to fear not. Now, I believe, such 
a voice has spoken to us all, only we explained it away 
as the result of our own reasoning. St. Paul's life was 
with God; his very dreams were of God. A Being stood 
beside him by day and night. He saw a form which 
others did not see, and heard a voice which others could 
not hear. 

Again, compare the twenty-seventh chapter of the Acts, 
twenty-third verse ; where we are told that when he was a 
prisoner, tossed for many nights upon the tempestuous sea, 
he yet saw the angel of that God, " Whose he was, and 
Whom he served." Remember his noble faith, his 
unshaken conviction that all would be as the vision and 
the voice of God had told him. 

Ever you see him on the brink of that other world. 
Even his trials and conflicts were those of a high order. 
Most of us are battling with some mean appetite or gross 
passion. St. Paul's battles were not those of the flesh 
and appetites, but of spirit struggling with spirit. I infer 
this partly from his own special gift of chastity, and partly 
from the case which he selects in the seventh of Romans, 
which is " covetousness" — an evil desire, but still one of 
the spirit. 



510 LECTUKES ON THE EPISTLES 

Now to such men, the other world is revealed as a 
reality which it cannot appear to others. Those things in 
heaven and earth which philosophy does not dream of, 
these men see. But, doubtless, such things are seen under 
certain conditions. For example, many of St. Paul's visions 
were when he was "fasting" at times when the body is 
not predominant in our humanity. For "fulness of 
bread " and abundance of idleness are not the conditions 
in which we can see the things of God. Again, most of 
these revelations were made to him in the midst of trial. 
In the prison at Philippi, during the shipwreck, while 
" the thorn was in his flesh," then it was that the vision 
of unutterable things was granted to him, and the vision 
of God in His clearness came. 

This was the experience of Christ Himself. God does 
not lavish His choicest gifts, but reserves them. Thus, 
at Christ's baptism, before beginning His work, the Voice 
from Heaven was heard. It was in the Temptation that 
the angels ministered to Him. On the Transfiguration 
Mount the glory shone, when Moses and Elias spake 
to Him of His death, which He should accomplish at 
Jerusalem. In perplexity which of two things to say, 
the Thunder Yoice replied, " I have both glorified it, and 
will glorify it again." In the Agony, there came an angel 
strengthening Him. 

Hence we learn, that Inspiration is, first, not the result 
of will or effort, but is truly and properly from God. 
Yet that, secondly, it is dependent on certain conditions, 
granted to certain states, and to a certain character. 
Thirdly, that its sphere is not in things of sense, but 
in moral and spiritual truth. And, fourthly, that it is 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 511 

not elaborated by induction from experience, but is the 
result of intuition. Yet, though inspiration is granted in 
its fulness only to rare, choice spirits like St. Paul, we 
must remember that in degree it belongs to all Christian 
experience. There have been moments, surely, in our 
experience, when the vision of God was clear. They 
were not, I will venture to say, moments of fulness, or 
success, or triumph. In some season of desertion, you 
have, in solitary longing, seen the skyladder as Jacob 
saw it of old, and felt Heaven open even to you; or in 
childish purity — for " Heaven lies around us in our 
infancy " — heard a voice as Samuel did ; or, in some 
struggle with conscience and inclination, heard from 
Heaven the words, " Why persecutest thou Me ? " or, in 
feebleness of health, when the weight of the bodily frame 
was taken off, whether it were in delirium or vision, 
you could not say but Faith brightened her eagle eye, 
and saw far into the tranquil things of Death : or, in 
prayer, you have been conscious of more than earth pre- 
sent in the silence, and a Hand in yours, and a Voice 
that you could hear, and almost the Eternal breath upon 
your brow. 

III. Lastly, this spiritual ecstacy is unutterable : unut- 
terable, however, in two degrees : — 

1. "Unspeakable " (ver. 4). This it is, simply because 
the things of the Spirit are untranslateable into the lan- 
guage of the intellect. Feelings, convictions, emotions — 
love, duty, aspiration, devotion — in what sentences will 
you express to another what you feel and mean by 
these ? 



512 LECTUEES ON THE EPISTLES 

Conceive, then, a translation to Heaven, and a return 
from thence. How would the man describe the things 
seen and heard? In the fourth chapter of Revelation the 
attempt is made, but it instantly takes the form of sym- 
bols and figures. A throne is there, and One is there 
like a jasper and a sardine stone : a rainbow like an 
emerald encircles all. Seven Spirit Lamps are burning : 
the lightnings, and thunderings, and voices, are heard, 
and the sea of glass shines like crystal. Thus did the 
writer, in high symbolic language, attempt, inadequately, 
to shadow forth the glory which his spirit realized, but 
which his sense saw not. For Heaven is not scenery, 
nor anything appreciable by ear or eye : Heaven is God 
felt. 

Hence, when at Pentecost, the rushing wind filled men 
with the afflatus of the Holy Ghost, and they tried to 
utter in articulate words what they felt, is it not perfectlv 
intelligible why, to the unsympathetic bystanders, they 
seemed like men " filled with new wine ? " 

Again, this ecstacy was unutterable, because " not lawful 
for a man to utter." Christian modesty forbids. There 
are bridal moments of the soul: and not easily forgiven 
are those who would utter the secrets of its high inter- 
course with its Lord. There is a certain spiritual indeli- 
cacy in persons who cannot perceive that not everything 
which is a matter of experience and knowledge is, there- 
fore, a subject for conversation. There are some things 
in this world too low to be spoken of, and some things too 
high. You cannot discuss such subjects without vulgariz- 
ing them. 

Thus, when Elijah and Elisha went together from Gilgal 



TO THE CORINTHIANS. 513 

to Jordan, the sons of the prophets came to Elisha with that 
confidential gossip which is common in those who think to 
understand mysteries by talking of them : "Knowest thou," 
they asked, " that the Lord will take away thy master 
to-day ? " Remember Elisha's dignified reply : " Yea, I 
know it : hold ye your peace." 

God dwells in the thick darkness. Silence knows more 
of Him than speech. His Name is Secret : therefore, 
beware how ye profane His stillnesses. To each of His 
servants He giveth "a white stone, and in the stone 
a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he 
that receiveth it." 



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Voyage to Japan, KamtschatJca, Siberia, Tar- 

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By J. M. TrONSON, R.N. Sco, with Charts and Views. 18s. cloth. 



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"We cordially recommend it."— British Quar- 
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To Cuba and Bach. By R. H. Dana, Author of " Two 

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grandiosity of its national manner, and the en- 

I croated pettiness of its national character, are 
pleasantly and forcibly drawn. A coasting voyage 
to Matanzas, and a railroad journey, Drought 

' him into closer contact with the essential charac- 
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day Reveiw. 



Shelley Memorials. Edited by Lady Shelley. 

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We gladly welcome this interesting 

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World. 

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Campaigning Experiences in Rajpootana and 

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Post Svo, ivith Map. Price 10s. 6d. cloth. 



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3 



"WOEKS PUBLISHED BY 



NEW PUBLICATIONS— continued. 
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the South."— Atlienaxim. 



in the North and in 



The Fool of Quality. 



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of an accomplished gentleman and a sincere 
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William Burke the 
Jelinger C. Symons. 



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By 



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detail, and at the same time so much force, placed 



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Social Lnnovators and their Schemes. By 
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tration."— Press. 

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Life in Tuscany. By Mabel Sharman Crawford 

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4 



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SIMITH, ELDER AND CO. 



NEW PUBLICATIONS— continued. 
Sermons. By the late Rey. Fred. W. Robertson, A.M., 
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cool thinker, but to the passionate deep-toned 
voice of an earnest human soul."— Edinburgh 
Christian Maaazine. 



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Lectures and Addresses on Literary and Social 
Topics. By the late Rev. Fred. W. Robertson. 



Post 8vo } price 

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" We value this volume for its frankness and 
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7s. 6d. cloth. 

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The Life of Charlotte Bronte. (Currer Bell.) 
Author of "Jane Eyre," "Shirley," "Villette," &c. 
By Mrs. Gaskell, Author of " North and South," &c. 

Fourth Edition, Revised, One Volume, with a Portrait of Miss Bronte and 
a View of Haw or th Parsonage. Price 7 s. 6d. ; morocco elegant, 14s. 



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—Eraser's Magazine. 



late 



The Life of J. Deacon Hume, Esq., 

Secretary to the Board of Trade. By the Rev. Charles 

BADHAM. Post 8vo, price 9s., cloth. 



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the most useful and judicious biographies extant 



in our literature, peculiarly full of beauties, and 
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New Zealand and its Colonization. By William 

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| spects."— Ladies' Newspaper. 



"\YOEKS PUBLISHED BY 



NEW PUBLICATIONS-- continued. 
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Gunnery in 1858: a Treatise on Rifles, Cannon, 

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'An acceptable contribution to professional 
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Sei'ald. 



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Phantasies : a Faerie Romance for Men and 

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Esmond. By W. M. Thackeray, Esq. 

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The Education of the Human Race. 

first Translated from the German of Lessing-. 

Fcap. 8vo, antique cloth, price 4s. 
\* This remarkable work is now first published in English. 



Now 



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"This invaluable tract. "—Critic. 

" A little book on a great subject, and one which, 
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Homely Ballads for the Working Mans 

Fireside. By Mary Sewell. 

Eighth Thousand. Post 8vo, cloth, One Shilling. 



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SMITH, ELDEB ^^TO CO. 



ME. ETJSKIN'S WOEKS ON AET. 
The Two Paths: being Lectures on Art, and 

its relation to Manufactures and Decoration. 

\vo, with Two Steel Engravings, price 7 s. 6d. cloth. 



One Volume, Crown 

" The meaning of the title of this hook is, that 
there are two courses open to the artist, one of 
which will lead him to all that is nohle in art, and 
will incidentally exalt his ~r\ oral nature; while 
the other will deteriorate his work and help to 
throw obstacles in the way of his individual 
morality. . . . They all contain many useful 
distinctions, acute remarks, and valuable sugges- 
tions, and are everywhere lit up with that glow of 

The Elements of Drawing. 



fervid eloquence which has so materially contri- 
buted to the author's reputation."— Press. 

" The ' Two Paths ' contains much eloquent de- 
scription, places in a clear light some forgotten or 
neglected truths, and, like all Mr. Ruskin's books, 
is eminently suggestive."— .Literary Gazette. 

" This book is well calculated to encourage the 
humblest worker, and stimulate him to artistic 
effort."— Leader. 



Sixth Thousand. 



Crown 8vo. With Illustrations drawn by the Author. 
Price 7s. 6d. cloth. 



" The rules are clearly and fully laid down ; and 
the earlier exercises always conducive to the end 
hy simple and unembarrassing means. The whole 
volume is full of liveliness."— Spectator. 

" We close this book with a feeling that, though 
nothing supersedes a master, yet that no student 
of art should launch forth without this work as a 
compass."— Athenaeum. 

" It will be found not only an invaluable acqui- 
sition tothe student, hut agreeable and instructive 



reading for any one who wishes to refine his per- 
ceptions of natural scenery, and of its worthiest 
artistic representations. "—Economist. 

" Original as this treatise is, it cannot fail to he 
at once instructive and suggestive."— Literary 
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"The most useful and practical book on the 
suhject which has ever come under our notice."— 
Press. 



On Mountain 



Modern Painters, Vol. IV. 

Beauty. 

Imperial 8vo, with Thirty-five Illustrations engraved on Steel, and 
116 Woodcuts, drawn by the Author. Price 2/. 10s. cloth. 



"The present volume of Mr. Buskin's elaborate 
work treats chiefly of mountain scenery, and 
discusses at length the principles involved in the 
pleasure we derive from mountains and their 
pictorial representation. The singular beauty of 
his style, the hearty sympathy with all forms of 
natural loveliness, the profusion of his illustra- 
tions form irresistible attractions."— Daily News. 

"Considered as an illustrated volume, this is the 
most remarkable which Mr. Ruskin has yet issued. 
The plates and woodcuts are profuse, and include 
numerous drawings of mountain form by the 
author, which prove Mr. Ruskin to be essentially 

Modern Painters, Vol. III. Of Many Things. 

With Eighteen Illustrations drawn by the Author, and engraved on Steel. 
Price 38s. cloth. 



an artist. He is an unique man, both among 
artists and writers."— Spectator. 

" The fourth volume brings fresh stores of 
wondrous eloquence, close and patient observa- 
tions, and subtle disquisition. . . . Such a 
writer is a national possession. He adds to our 
store of knowledge and enjoyment."— Leader. 

" Mr. Ruskin is the most eloquent and thought- 
awakening writer on nature in its relation with 
art, and the most potent influence by the pen, of 
young artists, whom this country can boast." — 
National Review. 



" Every one who cares about nature, or poetry, 
or the story of human development— every one 
who has a tinge of literature or philosophy, will 
find something that is for him in this volume."— 
Westminster Revieic. 

"Mr. Ruskin is in possession of a clear and 
penetrating mind ; he is undeniably practical in 
his fundamental ideas; full of the deepest 
reverence for all that appears to him heautiful 
and holy. His style is, as usual, clear, bold, racy. 
Mr. Ruskin is one of the first writers of the 
day."— Economist. 

"The present volume, viewed as a literary 



achievement, is the highest and most striking 
evidence of the author's abilities that has yet 
been published."— Leader. 

"All, it is to be hoped, will read the hook for 
themselves. They will find it well worth a careful 
perusal."— Satwr&ay Review. 

" This work is eminently suggestive, full of new 
thoughts, of brilliant descriptions of scenery, 
and eloquent moral application of them."— New 
Quarterly Review. 

"Mr. Ruskin has deservedly won for himself a 
place in the first rank of modern writers upon 
the theory of the fine arts."— Eclectic Review. 



Modern Painters 

Imperial 8vo 



Vols. I. and II. 



Vol. I., 6th Edition, 
Price 10s. 

"A generous and impassioned review of the 
works of living painters. A hearty and earnest 
work, full of deep thought, and developing great 
and striking truths in art."— British Quarterly 
Review. 

"A very extraordinary and delightful book, full 
of truth and goodness, of power and beauty."— 
North British Review. 



185. cloth. Vol. II., 4th Edition. 
6d. cloth. 

" Mr. Ruskin's work will send the painter more 
than ever to the study of nature; will train men 
who have always been delighted spectators of 
nature, to be also attentive observers. Our critics 
will learn to admire, and mere admirers will learn 
how to criticise : thus a public will be educated."— 
Blackwood's Magazine. 



WOEKS T>TJB3LISHE33 BY 



WORKS OF MR. RUSXIN— continued. 



The Stones of Venice. 



Complete in Three Volumes, Imperial 8vo, with Fifty-three Plates and 
numerous Woodcuts, drawn by the Author. Price 5l. 15s. 6d. } cloth. 



EACH VOLUME MAY BE HAD SEPARATELY. 

Vol. I. THE FOUNDATIONS, with 21 Plates, price 21. 2s. 2nd Edition. 
Vol. II. THE SEA STORIES, with 20 Plates, price 2/. 2s. 
Vol. III. THE FALL, with 12 Plates, price 1/. lis. 6d. 



"The ' Stones of Venice ' is the production of an 
earnest, religious, progressive, and informed mind. 
The author of this essay on architecture has con- 
densed it into a poetic apprehension, the fruit of 
awe of God, and delight in nature ; a knowledge, 
love, and just estimate of art; a holding fast to 
fact and repudiation of hearsay; an historic 
breadth, and a fearless challenge of existing social 
problems, whose union we know not where to find 
paralleled."— Spectator. 



" This book is one which, perhaps, no other man 
could have written, and one for which the world 
ought to be and will be thankful. It is in the 
highest degree eloquent, acute, stimulating to 
thought, and fertile in suggestion. It will, we 
are convinced, elevate taste and intellect, raise 
the tone of moral feeling, kindle benevolence 
towards men, and increase the love and fear of 
God."— Times. 



The Seven Lamps of Architecture. 



Second Edition, with Fourteen Plates drawn by the Author. Imperial 8vo, 
Price ll. Is. cloth. 



"By 'The Seven Lamps of Architecture.' we 
understand Mr. Buskin to mean the Seven funda- 
mental and cardinal laws, the observance of and 
obedience to which are indispensable to the archi- 
tect, who would deserve the name. The politician, 
the moralist, the divine, will And in it ample store 
of instructive matter, as well as the artist. The 
author of this work belongs to a class of thinkers 
of whom we have too few amongst us."— 
Examiner. 



" Mr. Buskin's book bears so unmistakeably the 
marks of keen and accurate observation, of a true 
and subtle judgment and refined sense of beauty, 
joined with so much earnestness, so noble a sense 
of the purposes and business of art, and such a 
command of rich and glowing language, that it 
cannot but tell powerfully in producing a more 
religious view of the uses of architecture, and a 
deeper insight into its artistic principles."— 
Guardian. 



Notes on 



the Picture 

Fifth Thousand. 



Exhibitions of 1859. 

Price One Shilling. 



Lectures on Architecture and Painting. 

With Fourteen Cuts, drawn by the Author. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 
Price 8s. 6d. cloth. 



" Mr. Buskin's lectures— eloquent, graphic, and 
impassioned— exposing and ridiculing some of the 
vices of our present system of building, and 
exciting his hearers by strong motives of duty and 
pleasure to attend to architecture— are very 
successful."— Economist. 



" We conceive it to be impossible that any intel- 
ligent persons could listen to the lectures, how- 
ever they might differ from the judgments asserted, 
and from the general propositions laid down, 
without an elevating influence and an aroused 
enthusiasm."— Spectator. 



The Political Economy of Art. Price 2s. 6d. doth. 



" A most able, eloquent, and well-timed work. | 
We hail it with satisfaction, thinking it calculated 
to do much practical good, and we cordially recom- 
mend it to our readers."— Witness. 

"Mr. Buskin's chief purpose is to treat the I 
artist's power, and the art itself, as items of the I 
world's wealth, and to show how these may be 
best evolved, produced, accumulated, and dis- 
tributed."— Athenceum. 



"We never quit Mr. Buskin without being the 
better for what he has told us, and therefore we 
recommend this little volume, like all his othei 
works, to the perusal of our readers."— Economist. 

"This book, daring, as it is, glances keenly at 
principles, of which some are among the articles 
of ancient codes, while others are evolving slowly 
to the light."— Leader. 



A Portrait of John JRuskin, Esq., Engraved by 
F. Hole, from a Drawing by George Richmond. 

Prints, One Guinea ; India Proofs, Two Guineas. 



-WOIJKS ^PTJBHISIIIED BY 



NEW WORKS ON INDIA AND THE EAST. 



CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA. By John 
William Kate. 8vo, price 16s. 
cloth. 

" Mr. Kaye has written a history of the develop- 
ment of Christianity in India by all its agencies 
and all its manifestations. . . . His whole 
narrative is eloquent and informing, and he has 
again made a valuable use of his great oppor- 
tunities and indisputable talents, so that his book 
will probably become a standard authority."— 
Times. 

" The author traces the history of Christian 
Missions in India from their earliest commence- 
ment down to the present time, with a light 
and graceful pen, and is not wearisomely minute, 
but judiciously discriminative."— Athenamm. 

" Mr. Kaye's is, in many respects an able book, 
and it is likely to prove a very useful one. Mr. 
Kaye is not only most instructive from his fami- 
liarity with all points of detail, but he sees and 
judges everything as it was seen andjudged by 
the great statesmen whose wisdom has made 
British government possiblein India."— Saturday 
Review. 

" Seldom have we had the good fortune to read 
so simple, thorough, and excellent a history : it 
will remain a standardhoo^."— Morning Chronicle. 

" Mr. Kaye has done good service to the cause 
of Christian missions by the publication of his 
volume."— Illustrated News of the World. 

" A clear and careful retrospect of the rise and 
progress of Christianity in the East."— Black- 
icood's JIagazine. 

LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE OF 
LORD METCALFE. By J. W. 
Kate. Xew and Cheap Edition, 
in 2 vols., small post 8vo, with 
Portrait, price 125. cloth. 

"Some additions which have been made to the 
present volumes, place in a strong light the saga- 
city and good sense of Lord Metcalfe. . . . The 
present demand for a new edition is a sufficient 
commendation of a work which has already occu- 
pied the highest rank among biographies of the 
great men of modern times."— Observer. 

"A new and revised edition of the life of one 
of the greatest and purest men that ever aided 
in governing India. The new edition not only 
places a very instructive book within the reach of 
a greater number of persons, but contains new 
matter of the utmost value and interest. "—Critic. 

" One of the most valuable biographies of the 
present dav. This revised edition has several 
fresh passa'ses of high interest, now first inserted 
from among Lord Metcalfe's papers, in which his 
clear prescience of the dangers that threatened 
our Indian empire is remarkably shown. Both in 
size and price the new edition is a great improve- 
ment on the original work."— Economist. 

"This edition is revised with care and judgment. 
Mr. Kaye has judiciously condensed that portion 
of his original work which relates to the earlier 
career of the great Indian statesman. Another 
improvement in the work will be found in the 
augmentation of that part setting forth Lord 
Metcalfe's views of the insecurity of our Indian 
empire."— Globe. 

" A much improved edition of one of the most 
interesting political biographies in English 
literature."— National Review. 



PAPERS OF THE LATE LORD 
METCALFE. By J. W. Kate. 
Demy 8vo, price 165. cloth. 

"We commend this volume to all persons who 
like to study State papers, in which the practical 
sense of a man of the world is joined to the 
speculative sasacity of a philosophical statesman. 
So Indian library should be without it."— Press. 



LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE OF 
SIR JOHN MALCOLM, G.C.B. 
By J. W. Kate, 2 vols., 8vo, with 
Portrait. Price 36s. cloth. 

" The biography is replete with interest and 
information, deserving to be perused by the stu- 
dent of Indian history, and sure to recommend 
itself to the general reader."— Atheneeum. 

"One of the most interesting of the recent 
biographies of our great Indian statesmen." — 
National Review. 

" This book deserves to participate in the popu- 
larity which it was the good fortune of Sir John 
Malcolm to enjoy ."—Edinburgh Review. 

"A very valuable contribution to our Indian 
literature. We recommend it strongly to all who 
desire to learn something of the history of 
British India."— Neiv Quarterly Review. 

" Mr. Kaye's biography is at once a contribution 
to the history of our policy and dominion in the 
East, and a worthy memorial of one of those wise 
and large hearted men whose energy and pr n- 
ciple have made England great."— British Quar- 
terly Review. 

BRITISH RULE IN INDIA. Sixth 
Thousand. By Harriet Marti- 
neau. Price 2s. &d. cloth. 

*,* A reliable class-book for examination in the 
history ot British India. 

"A good compendium of a great subject."— 
National Review. 

"A succinct and comprehensive volume."— 
Leader. 

SUGGESTIONS TOWARDS THE 
FUTURE GOVERNMENT OF 
INDIA. By Harriet Martineau. 
Second Edition. Demy 8vo. Price 
5«. cloth. 

"As the work of an honest able writer, these 
Suggestions are well worthy of attention, and no 
doubt they will generally be duly appreciated."— 
Observer. 

"Genuine honest utterances of a clear, sound 
understanding, neither obscured nor enfeebled by 
party prejudice or personal selfishness. We cor- 
dially recommend all who are in search of the 
truth to peruse and reperuse these pages."— 
Daily News. 

EIGHT MONTHS' CAMPAIGN 
AGAINST THE BENGAL SE- 
POYS, DURING THE MUTINY, 
1857. By Colonel George Botjr- 
chier, C.B., Bengal Horse Ar- 
tillery. With plans. Post 8vo. 
Price 75. 6c/. cloth. 

"Col.Bourchier has given a right manly, fair, 
and forcible statement of events, and the reader 
will derive much pleasure and instruction from 
his pages."— Athenceum. 

"Col. Bourchier describes the various opera- 
tions with a modest forgetfulness of self, as 
pleasing and as rare as the clear manly style in 
which they are narrated."— Literary Gazette. 

"None who really desire to be more than very 
superficially acquainted with the rise and pro- 
gress of the rebellion may consider their studies 
complete until they have read Col. Bourchier. The 
nicely engraved plans from the Colonel's own 
sketches confer additional value upon his contri- 
bution to the literature of the Indian war."— 
Leader. 

9 



"WOKICS ZPUBllISHEID BY 



NEW WORKS ON INDIA AND THE EAST— 

Continued. 



PERSONAL ADVENTURES DURING 
THE INDIAN REBELLION, IN 
ROHILCUND,FUTTEGHUR,AND 
OUDE. By W. Edwards, Esq., 
B.C.S. Fourth Edition, post 8vo. 
Price 6s. cloth. 

"For touching incidents, hair-breadth 'scapes, 
and the pathos of suffering almost incredible, 
there has appeared nothing like this little book of 
personal adventures. For ihe first time we seem 
to realize the magnitude of the afflictions which 
have befallen our unhappy countrymen in the 
East. The terrible drama comes before us, audwe 
are by turns bewildered with horror, stung to 

fierce indignation, and melted to tears 

We have here a tale of suffering such as may have 
been equalled, but never surpassed. These real 
adventures, which no effort of the imagination 
can surpass, will find a sympathising public."— 
AthencBum. 

"Mr. Edwards's narrative is one of the most 
deeply interesting episodes of a story of which 
the least striking portions cannot be read without 
emotion. lie tells his story with simplicity and 
manliness, and it bears the impress of that 
earnest and unaffected reverence to the will and 
hand of God, which was the stay and comfort 
of many other brave hearts."— Guardian, 

" The narrative of Mr. Edwards's suffering and 
escapes is full of interest; it tells many a painful 
tale, but it also exhibits a man patient under ad- 
versity, and looking to the God and Father of us 
all for guidance and support."— Eclectic Revieic. 

"Among the stories of hair-breadth escapes in 
India this is one of the most interesting and 
touching."— Examiner. 

" A fascinating little book."— National Review. 

"Avery touching narrative."— Lit. Gazette. 

"No account of it can do it justice."— Globe. 

A LADY'S ESCAPE FROM GWA- 
LIOR DURING THE MUTINIES 
OF 1857. By Mrs. Coopland. 
Post 8vo. Price 10s. 6d 

" A plain, unvarnished tale, told in the simplest 
manner."— Press. 

" This book is valuable as a contribution to the 
history of the groatlndianrebellion."— Athenceum. 

" The merit of this book is its truth. ... It 
contains some passages that never will be read 
by Englishmen without emotion."— Examiner. 

THE CHAPLAIN'S NARRATIVE OF 
THE SIEGE OF DELHI. By the 
Rev. J. E. W. Rotton, Chaplain 
to the Delhi Field Force. Post 
8vo, with a plan of the City and 
Siege Works. Price 105. 6c/. cloth. 

"A simple and touching statement, which bears 
the impress of truth in every word. It has this 
advantage over the accounts which have yet been 
published, that it supplies some of those personal 
anecdotes and minute details which bring the 
events home to the understanding." — Athenceum. 

"' The Chaplain's Narrative' is remarkable for 
its pictures of men in amoral and religious aspect, 
during the progress of a harassing siege and 
when suddenly stricken down by the enemy or 
disease."— Spectator. 

"A plain unvarnished record of what came 
under a Field Chaplain's daily observation. Our 
author is a sincere, hardworking, and generous 
minded man, and his work will be most acceptable 
to the friends and relations of the many Christian 
heroes whose fate it tells, and to whose later 
hours it alludes."— Leader. 

"A book which has value as a careful narrative 
by an eye witness of one of the most stirring 
episodes of the Indian campaign, and interest as 
an earnest record by a Christian minister of 
some of the most touching scenes which can come 
under observation."— Literary Gazette. 
10 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LUT- 
FULLAH, A MOHAMEDAN GEN- 
TLEMAN, with an Account of 
his Visit to England. Edited 
by E. B. Eastwick, Esq. Third 
Edition, small post 8vo. Price 5s. 
cloth. 

"Thank you, Munshi Lutfullah Khan ! We 
have read your book with wonder and delight. 
Your adventures are more curious than you are 
aware. . . . But your book is chiefly striking 
for its genuineness. . . . Th 3 story will aid, in 
its degree, to some sort of understanding of the 
Indian insurrection. Professor Eastwick has done 
a grateful service in making known this valuable 
volume."— Athen mum. 

" Read fifty volumes of travel, and a thousand 
imitations of the Oriental novel, and you will not 
get the flavour of Eastern life and thought, or the 
zest of its romance, so perfectly as in Lutfullah's 
book."— Leader. 

" This is a remarkable book. We have auto- 
biographies in abundance of Englishmen, French- 
men, and Germans ; but of Asiatics and Mahome- 
tans, few or none. ... As the autobiography 
of a Mahometan mulla, it is in itself singularly 
interesting. As the observations of an eye- 
witness of our Indian possessions and our policy 
and proceedings in the peninsula, it possesses a 
value of its own, quite distinct from any European 
memorials on the same subjects."— Standard. 

"This is the freshest and most original work 
that it has been our good fortune to meet with lor 
long. It bears every trace of being a most genuine 
account of the feelings and doings of the author. 
The whole tone of the book, the turn of every 
thought, the association cf ideas, the allusions, 
are all fresh to the English reader; it opens up a 
new vein, and many will be astonished to find 
how rich a vein it is. Lutfullah is by no means an 
ordinary specimen of his race."— Economist. 

" This veritable autobiography, reads like a mix- 
ture of the Life and Adventure of Gil Bias, with 
those of the Three Calendars."— Globe. 

"As an autobiography, the book is very curious. 
It bears the strongest resemblance to Gil Bias of 
anything we have' ever read."— Spectator. 

THE CRISIS IN THE PUNJAB. 

By Frederick H. Cooper, Esq., 
C S. ; Umritsir. Post 8vo, with 
Map. Price 7s. 6d. cloth. 

" The book is full of terrible interest. The nar- 
rative is written with vigour and earnestness, 
and is full of the most tragic interest."— 
Economist. 

" One of the most interesting and spirited books 
which have sprung out of the sepoy mutiny."— 
Globe. 

THE DEFENCE OF LUCKNOW : 

A Staff -Officer's Diary. By 
Captain Thomas F. Wilson, 13th 
Bengal N.I., Assistant Adjutant- 
General. Sixth Thousand. With 
plan of the Residency. Small post 
8vo. Price 2s. 6d. 
" Unadorned and simple, the story is, neverthe- 
less, an eloquent one. This is a narrative not to 
be laid dow r n until the last line has been read."— 
Leader. 

" The Staff-Officer's Diary is simple and brief, 
and has a special interest, inasmuch as it gives a 
fuller account than we have elsewhere seen of 
those operations which were the chief human 
means of salvation to our friends in Lucknow. 
The Staff- Officer brings home to us, by his details, 
the nature of that underground contest, upon the 
result of which the fate of the beleaguered garrison 
especially depended."— Examiner. 



SMITH, ELDER AND CO. 



NEW WORKS ON INDIA AND THE EAST— 



Continued. 



THE LIFE OF MAHOMET AND 
HISTORY OF ISLAM TO THE 
ERA OF THE HEGIRA. By 

William Muir, Esq., Bengal Civil 
Service. 2 vols., 8vo. Price 325. 
cloth. 

"The most perfect life of Mahomet in the 
English language, or perhaps in any other. . . . 
The work is at once learned and interesting, and 
it cannot fail to be eagerly perused by all persons 
having any pretensions to historical knowledge." 
—Observer. 

VIEWS AND OPINIONS OF BRIGA- 
DIER-GENERAL JACOB, C.B. 

Edited by Capt. Lewis Pellt. 
Demy 8vo. Price 125. cloth. 

"The statesmanlike views and broad opinions 
enunciated inthis work would command attention 
under any circumstances, but coming from one of 
such experience and authority they are doubly 
valuable, and merit the consideration of legis- 
lators and politicians."— Sun. 

" The facts in this book are worth looking at. 
If the reader desires to take a peep into the inte- 
rior of the mind of a great man, let him make 
acquaintance with the ' Views and Opinions ol 
General Jacob.'"— Globe. 

" This is truly a gallant and soldierly book ; very 
Napierish iu its self-coufldence, in its capital 
sense, and in its devotedness to professional 
honour and the public eood. The book should be 
studied by all who are interested in the choice of 
a new government for India."— Daily News. 

THE PARSEES : their History, 
Religion, Manners and Customs. 
By Dosabhoy Pramjee. Post 
8vo. Price 10s. cloth. 

" Our author's account of the inner life of the 
Parsees will be read with interest."— Daily News. 

" A very curious and well written book, by a 
youug Parsee, on the manners and customs of 
his own race."— National Review. 

"An acceptable addition to our literature. It- 
gives information which many will be glad to 
have carefully gathered together, and formed into 
a shapely whole."— Economist. 

THE VITAL STATISTICS OF THE 
EUROPEAN AND NATIVE AR- 
MIES IN INDIA. By Joseph 
Ewart, M. D., Bengal Medical 
Service. Demy 8vo. Price 9s. 
cloth. 

"A valuable work, in which Dr. Ewart, with 
eftual industry and skill, has compressed the 
essence and import of an immense mass of de- 
tails."— Spectator. 

" One main object of this most valuable volume 
is to point out the causes which render the Indian 
climate so fatal to European troops."— Gritic. 

INDIAN SCENES AND CHARAC- 
TERS, Sketched from Llfe. 
By Prince Alexis Soltykoff. 
Sixteen Plates in Tinted Litho- 
graphy, with Descriptions. Edited 
by E. B. Eastavick, Esq., P.R.S. 
Colombier folio, half-hound in 
morocco, prints, 3l. 3s. ; proofs 
(only 50 copies printed), 4l. 4s. 



NARRATIVE OF THE MISSION 
FROM THE COVERNOR-CENE- 
RAL OF INDIA TO THE COURT 
OF AVA IN 1855. With Notices 
of the Country, Government, 
and People. By Capt. Henry 
Yule, Bengal Engineers. Imperial 
8vo, with 24 plates (12 coloured), 
50 woodcuts, and 4 maps. Ele- 
gantly bound in cloth, with gilt 
edges, price 2l. 12s. 6c?. 

"A stately volume in gorgeous golden covers. 
Such a book is in our times a rarity. Large, 
massive, and beautiful in itself, it is illustrated 
by a sprinkling of elegant woodcuts, and by a 

series of admirable tinted lithographs 

We have read it with curiosity and gratification, 
as a fresh, full, and luminous report upon the 
condition of one of the most interesting divisions 
of Asia beyond the Gauges."— Athenwum. 

"Captain Yule has brought to his narrative a 
knowledge of many thing's, which is the main 
help to observation. He has a taste in archi- 
tecture, art, and the cognate sciences, as weU as 
much information on the history and religion of 
the Burmese. . . . His description of these 
things, especially of the antiquities, are not only 
curious in themselves, but lor the speculations 
they open up as to origin of the Burmese style, 
aud the splendour of the empire, centuries ago." — 
Spectator. 

"Captain Yule, in the preparation of the splendid 
volume before us, has availed himself of the labours 
of those who preceded him. To all who are desirous 
of possessing the best and fullest account that 
has ever boon u'iven to the public, of a great, and 
hitherto little known region of the globe, the 
interesting, conscientious',' and well-written work 
of Captain Yule will have a deep interest, while 
to the political economist, geographer, and mer- 
chant it will be indispensable. "—Examiner. 



TIGER SHOOTING IN INDIA. By 

Lieutenant William Rice, 25th 
Bombay N. I. Super royal 8vo. 
With 12 plates in chromo-litho- 
graphy. Price 21s. cloth. 

"These adventures, told in handsome large 
print, with spirited chromo-lithographs to illus- 
trate them, make the volume before us as pleasant 
reading as any record of sporting achievements 
we have ever taken in hand."— Athenceum. 

"A remarkably pleasant book of adventures 
during several seasons of ' large game ' hunting 
in Rajpootana. The twelve chromo-lithographs 
are very valuable accessories to the narrative; 
they have wonderful spirit and freshness." — 
Globe. 

"A good volume of wild sport, abounding in 
adventure, and handsomely illustrated with 
coloured plates from spirited designs by the 
author."— Examiner. 



THE COMMERCE OF INDIA WITH 
EUROPE, AND ITS POLITICAL 
EFFECTS. By B. A. Irving, 
Esq. Post 8vo. Price 7s. 6d. cloth. 

" Mr. Irviug's work is that of a man thoroughly 
versed in his' subject. It is a historical hand- 
book of the progress and vicissitudes of European 
trade with India."— Economist. 



11 



:wo:r:k:s i>u:b:lishe:d by 



WORKS ON INDIA AND THE EAST. 



THE ENGLISH IN WESTERN INDIA: 

being the early history of the 
Factory at Surat, of Bombay. 
By Philip Anderson, A.M. 2nd 
edition, 8vo, price 14s. cloth. 

"Quaint, curious, and amusing, this volume 
describes, from old manuscripts and obscure 
books, the life of English merchants in an Indian 
Factory. It contains fresh and amusing gossip, 
all bearing on events and characters of historical 
importance."— Athenaeum. 

"A book of permanent value."— Guardian. 

LIFE IN ANCIENT INDIA. By Mrs. 

Speir. With Sixty Illustrations 
by G. Scharf. 8vo, price 15*., 
elegantly bound in cloth, gilt edges. 

"Whoever desires to have the best, the com- 
pletest, and the most popular view of what 
Oriental scholars have made known to us respect- 
ing Ancient India must peruse the work of Mrs. 
Speir; in which he will And the story told in 
clear, correct, and unaffected English. The book 
is admirably got up."— Examiner. 

THE CAUVERY, KISTNAH, AND 
GODAVERY : being a Report 
on the Works constructed on 
those Rivers, for the Irrigation 
of Provinces in the Presidency 
of Madras. By R. Baird Smith, 
F.G.S., Lt.-Col. Bengal Engineers, 
&c, &c. In demy 8vo, with 19 
Plans, price 28s. cloth. 

"A most curious and interesting work."— 
Economist. 

THE BHILSA TOPES; or, Buddhist 
Monuments of Central India. 
By Major Cunningham. One vol., 
8vo, with Thirty-three Plates, 
price 30s. cloth. 

"Of the Topes opened in various parts of India 
none have yielded so rich a harvest of important 
information as those of Bhilsa, opened by Major 
Cunningham and Lieut. Maisey; and which are 
described, with an abundance of highly curious 
graphic illustrations, in this most interesting 
book. ' '—Exam in er. 

THE CHINESE AND THEIR REBEL- 
LIONS. By Thomas Taylor 
Meadows. One thick volume, 8vo, 
with Maps, price 18s. cloth. 

"Mr. Meadows' book is the work of a learned, 
conscientious, and observant person, and really 
important in many respects."— Times. 

iC Mx. Meadows has produced a work which 

deserves to be studied by all who would gain a true 

[ appreciation of Chinese character. Information 

is sown broad-cast through every page."— 

J Athenaeum. 

ADDISON'S TRAITS AND STORIES 
OF ANGLO-INDIAN LIFE. With 
Eight Illustrations, price 5s. cloth. 

"An entertaining and instructive volume of 
Indian anecdotes."— Military Spectator. 

"Anecdotes and stories well calculated to 
illustrate Anglo-Indian life and the domestic 
manners and habits of Hindostan."— Observer. 

" A pleasant collection of amusing anecdotes." 
— Critic. 

22 



TRACTS ON THE NATIVE ARMY 
OF INDIA. By Brigadier-General 
Jacob, C.B. 8vo, price 2s. 6d. 

ROYLE ON THE CULTURE AND 
COMMERCE OF COTTON IN 
INDIA. 8vo, price 18s. cloth. 

ROYLE'S FIBROUS PLANTS OF 

INDIA FITTED FOR CORDAGE, 

Clothing, and Paper. 8vo, price 
12s. cloth. 

ROYLE'S PRODUCTIVE RE- 
SOURCES OF INDIA. Super 
royal 8vo, price 14s. cloth. 

ROYLE'S REVIEW OF THE MEA- 
SURES ADOPTED IN INDIA FOR 
THE IMPROVED CULTURE OF 
COTTON. 8vo, 2s. 6rf. cloth. 

A SKETCH OF ASSAM: 

with some Account of the Hill 

Tribes. Coloured Plates, 8vo, 
price 14s. cloth. 

BUTLER'S TRAVELS AND ADVEN- 
TURES IN ASSAM. One vol. 8vo, 
with Plates, price 12s. cloth. 

DR. WILSON ON INFANTICIDE IN 
WESTERN INDIA. Demy 8vo, 
price 12s. 

WARING ON ABSCESS IN THE 
LIVER. 8vo, price 3s. 6d. 

LAURIE'S SECOND BURMESE 
WAR — RANGOON. Post 8vo. 
with Plates, price 2s. 6c?. cloth. 

LAURIE'S PEGU. Post 8vo, price 
14s. cloth. 

IRVING'S THEORY AND PRACTICE 
OF CASTE. 8vo, price 5s. cloth. 

THE BOMBAY QUARTERLY 
REVIEW. Nos. 1 to 9 at 5s., 10 to 
14, price 6s. each. 

BAILLIE'S LAND TAX OF INDIA. 

According to the Moohummudan 
Law. 8vo, price 6s. cloth. 

BAILLIE'S MOOHUMMUDAN LAW 
OF SALE. 8vo, price 14s. cloth. 

BAILLIE'S MOOHUMMUDAN LAW 
OF INHERITANCE. 8vo, price 
95. cloth. 



SMITH, ELDEE ^£TD CO. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



ANNALS OF BRITISH LEGIS- 
LATION, a Classified Summary 
of Parliamentary Papers. Ed. 
by Professor Leone Levi. The 
yearly issue consists of 1,000 pages, 
super royal 8vo, and the Subscrip- 
tion is Two Guineas, payable in 
advance. The Thirty-fourth Part 
is just issued, commencing the 
Third Year's Issue. Volumes I. to 
IV. may be had, price 41. 4s. cloth. 

"A series that will, if it be always managed as 
it now is by Professor Levi, last as long as there 
remains a Legislature in Great Britain. These 
Annals are to give the essence of work done and 
information garnered for the State during each 
legislative year, a summary description of every 
Act passed, a digest of the vital facts contained 
in every Blue Book issued, and of all documents 
relating to the public business of the country. 
The series will live, while generations of men die, 
if it be maintained in its old age as ably and as 
conscientiously as it is now in its youth."— 
Examiner. 

"The idea was admirable, nor does the execu- 
tion fall short of the plan. To accomplish this 
effectively, and at the same time briefly, was not 
an easy task; but Professor Levi has undertaken 
it with great success. The work is essentially a 
guide. It will satisfy those persons who refer to 
it mereiy for general purposes, while it will direct 
the research of others whose investigations take 
a wider range."— Athenccum. 

CAPTIVITY OF RUSSIAN 
PRINCESSES IN SHAMIL'S 
SERAGLIO. Translated from the 
Russian, by H. S. Edwards. With 
an authentic Portrait of Shamil, a 
Plan of his House, and a Map. Post 
8vo, price 10s. 6d. cloth. 

"A book than which there are few novels more 
interesting. It is a romance of the Caucasus. 
The account of lire in the house of Shamil is full 
and very entertaining ; and of Shamil himself we 
see much."— Exa miner. 

"The story is certainly one of the most curious 
we have read ; it contains the best popular notice 
of the social polity of Shamil and the manners of 
his people."— Leader. 

"The np.rrative is well worth reading."— 
Athenaeum. 



SHARPE'S HISTORIC NOTES ON 
THE OLD AND NEW TESTA- 
MENT. Third and Revised Edition. 
Post 8vo, price 7s. cloth. 

" An inestimable aid to the clergyman, reader, 
city-missionary, and Sunday-school teacher." 
—Illustrated News of the World. 

"A learned and sensible book."— National He- 
view. 

ELLIS'S (WILLIAM; RELIGION IN 
COMMON LIFE. Post 8vo, price 
75. 6d. cloth. 

"A book addressed to young people of the 
upper ten thousand upon social duties."— 
Examiner. 

"Lessons in Political Economy for young people 
by a skilful hand."— Economist. 



THE OXFORD MUSEUM. By 
Henry W. Acland, M.D., and 
John Ruskin, A.M. Post 8vo, 
with three Illustrations. Price 
25. 6c?. cloth. 

" Everyone who cares for the advance of true 
learning, and desires to note an onward step, 
should buy and read this little tolume."— Morn- 
ing Herald. 

" There is as much significance in the occasion 
of this little volume as interest in the book itself." 
—Spectator. 

THE ENDOWED SCHOOLS OF 
IRELAND. By Harriet Mar- 
tineau. 8yo. Price 3s. 6d. } cloth 
boards. 

"The friends of education will do well to pos- 
sess themselves of this book."— Spectator. 

PARISH'S (CAPT. A.) SEA 
OFFICER'S MANUAL. Second 
Edition, Small Post 8vo, price 55. 
cloth. 

"A very lucid and compendious manual. We 
would recommend youths intent upon a seafaring 
life to study it."— Athenaeum. 

"A little book that ought to be in great request 
among young seamen."— Examiner. 

ANTIQUITIES OF KERTCH, 

and Researches in the Cim- 
merian Bosphorus. By Duncan 
McPherson, M.D., of the Madras 
Army, E.R.G.S., M.A.I. Imp. 4to, 
with Fourteen Plates and numerous 
Illustrations, including Eight 
Coloured Eac-Similes of Relics of 
Antique Art, price Two Guineas. 

"It is a volume which deserves the careful 
attention of every student of classical antiquity. 
No one can fail to be pleased with a work which 
has so much to attract the eye and to gratify the 
love of beauty and elegance in design. . . ; . 
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and the Australian Gold Mines 
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13 



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MISCELLANEOUS— continued. 



TAULER'S LIFE AND SERMONS. 

Translated by Miss Susanna Wink- 
worth. "With a Preface by the 
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"Hiss Wink worth has done a service, not only 
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translated."— Guardian. 

. "No difference of opinion can be felt as to the 
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"Those who would understand what Mor- 
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" It is a production of great merit, and we hail 
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CAYLEY'S EUROPEAN REVOLU- 
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14 



THE COURT OF HENRY VIII.: 

being a Selection op the 
Despatches op Sebastian Gius- 
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1515-1519. Translated by Raw- 
don Brown. Two vols., crown 8 vo, 
price 21s. cloth. 

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16 



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18 



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DEERBROOK. By Harriet 
Martineau. Price 2s. 6c/. cloth. 

"Tliis popular Action presents a true and ani- 
mated picture of country life among the iipper 
middle classes of English residents, and is re- 
markable for its interest, arising from the 
influence of various characters upon each other, 
and the effect of ordinary circumstances upon 
them. The descriptions of rural scenery, and the 
daily pursuits in village hours, are among the 
most charming of the author's writings; but the 
way in which exciting incidents gradually arise 
out of the most ordinary phases of life, and the 
skill with which natural and every -day characters 
are brought out in dramatic situations, attest the 
power or the author's genius."— 

TALES OF THE COLONIES. 

By Charles Bo-wcroft. Price 
25. 6c?. cloth. 

'"Tales of the Colonies ' is an able and interest- 
ing book. The author has the first great requisite 
in fiction— a knowledge of the life he undertakes 
to describe; and his matter is solid and real."— 
Spectator. 

"It combines the fidelity of truth with the 
spirit of a romance, and has altogether much of 
De Foe in its character and composition."— 
Literary Gazette. 

ROMANTIC TALES (including 
" Avillion "). By the Author of 
(i John Halifax, Gentleman." A 
new edition. Price 2s. 6d. cloth. 

" In a nice knowledge of the refinements of the 
female heart, and in a happy power of depicting 
emotion, the authoress is excelled by very few 
Story tellers of the day."— Globe. 

" 'Avillion' is a beautiful and fanciful storv, 
and the rest make very agreeable reading. There 
is not one of them unquickened by true feeling, 
exquisite taste, and a pure and vivid imagina- 
tion."— Exa min t r. 

DOMESTIC STORIES. By the 

Author of "John Halifax, Gentle- 
man," &c. Price 2s. 6d. cloth. 

" In a nice knowledge of the refinements of the 
female heart and in a happy power of depicting 
emotion, the authoress is excelled by very few 
story-tellers of the day."— Globe. 

"There is not one of them unquickened by true 
feeling, exquisite taste, and a pure and vivid 
imagination."— Exa m Iner. 

"As pleasant and fanciful a miscellany as has 
been given to the public in these latter "days."— 
Athena: urn. 

"In these her first essays into the realms of 
fiction, Miss Muloch has shown a daring spirit in 
the variety and sweep of the sul jects that she 
handles."— Eclectic lievieir. 

"It matters little as to the machinery with 
which a writer works out his purpose, provided 
that purp jse be laudable and the execution of the 
work good. Both conditions are perfectly fulfilled 
in the work before us ; the sentiment is pure and 
true, the moral excellent, and the style incompa- 
rably beautiful."— Illustrated News of the World. 

"We cannot recommend to our readers aplea- 
santer book for an evening's instruction and 
amusement."— Lady's Xewspaper. 



AFTER DARK. By Wilkie Collins. 

Price 2s. 6d. cloth. 

" Mr. "Wilkie Collins stands in the foremost rank 
of our younger writers of fiction. He tells a 
story well and forcibly, his style is eloquent and 
picturesque; he has considerable powers of pa- 
thos; understands the art of construction; is 
never wearisome or wor.-iy, and has a keen insight 

. into character."— Da ilyXeics. 

"Stories of adventure, well varied, and often 
striking in the incidents, or with thrilling situa- 

| tions. They are about as pleasant reading as a 
novel reader could desire."— Spectator. 

I "Mr. "Wilkie Coilins has been happy in the choice 

I of a thread whereon to string the pearls; we read 

I it almost as eagerly as the stories themselves. 

; Mr. Collins possesses a rare faculty Vart de 
confer. No man living better tells a story."— 

| Lea'er. 

' "Mr. "Wilkie Collins takes high rank among 
the who can invent a thrilling story and t;ll it 

I with brief simplicity. The power of commanding 

I the faculties of the reader is exercised in nearly 

I all these stories."— Globe. 

"Their great merit consists either in the effec- 
tive presentation of a mystery, or the effective 
working up of striking situations."— Westminster 
Review. 

"'After Dark' abounds with genuine touches 
of nature."— British Quarterly. 

"These stories possess all the author's well- 
known beauty of style and dramatic power."— 
yew Quarterly. 

PAUL FERROLL. Fourth edition, 
price 2s. cloth. 

" "We have seldom read so wonderful a romance. 
"We can find no fault in it as a work of art. It 
leaves us in admiration, almost in awe, of the 
powers of its author."— Xeic Quarterly. 

"The art displayed in presenting Paul Ferroll 
throughout the story is beyond all praise."— 
Examiner. 

"The incidents of the book are extremely M-ell 
managed." — Athenwum. 

" The fruit of much thoughtful investigation is 
represented to us in the character of Paul 

Ferroll "We do not need to be told how 

he felt and why he acted thus and thus; it will 
be obvious to most minds from the very opening 
pages. But the power of the story is not weak- 
ened by this early knowledge : rather is it 
heightened, since the artistic force of contrast is 
grand and fearful in the two figures who cling so 
| closely together in their fond human love."— 
1 Morning Chronicle. 

j SCHOOL FOR FATHERS. 

By Talbot Gwyxne. Price 25. cl. 

" 'The School for Fathers ' is one of the cleverest, 
i most brilliant, genial, and instructive stories that 
; we have read since the publication of ' Jane 
• Eyre.' "— Eclect ic Review. 

" The pleasantest tale we have read for many a 
day. It is a story of the Tatler and Spectator 
days, and is very fitly associated with that time 
j of good English literature by its manly feeling, 
I direct, unaffected manner of writing, and nicely- 
managed, well-turned narrative. The descriptions 
I are excellent; some of the country painting is as 
fresh as a landscape by Alfred Constable, or an 
idyl by Tennyson."— Examiner. 

"A capital picture of town and country a 
century ago; and is emphatically the freshest, 
raciest, and most artistic piece of fiction that has 
lately come in our way ."—Nonconformist. 



PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION. 

KATHIE BRANDE : the Pireside Histort of a Quiet Life. By Holme 

Lee, Author of " Sylvan Holt's Daughter." 
BELOW THE SURFACE. By Sir Arthur Hallam Elton, Bart., M.P. 

THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL. By Acton Bell. {Just ready.-) 

19 



woeks :ptjb:lishe:d by 



NEW NOVELS 



(to be had at 

AGAINST WIND AND TIDE. By 
Holme Lee, Author of " Sylvan 
Holt's Daughter." (Now ready.) 

EXTREMES. By Miss E. W. Atkin- 
son, Author of " Memoirs of the 
Queens of Prussia." 2 vols. 

"A nervous and vigorous style, an elaborate 
delineation of character under many varieties, 
spirited aud well-sustained dialogue, and a care- 
fully-constructed plot ; if these have any charms 
for our readers, they will not forget the s-.viftly 
gliding hours passed in perusing "Extremes.' "— 
Morning Post. 

"We have no hesitation in placing this hook 
high above the ephemeral stories with which 
from time to time the circulating libraries are 
inuii dated. The story is not so intense as that of 
'Jane Eyre,' nor are the characters so pro- 
nounced as those in ' Adam Bede,' and yet we 
think 'Extremes' will hear comparison with 
either of the two. There is throughout the whole 
story the trace of great power and delicate 
perception of minute shades of character, which 
place Miss Atkinson high in the ranks of con- 
temporary novelists."— Ladies' Newspaper. 

" 'Extremes' is a novel written with a sober 
purpose, and wound up with a moral. The 
purpose is to exemplify some of the errors arising 
from mistaken zeal in religious matters, and the 
evil consequences that flow from those errors."— 
Spectator. 

"The machinery of the piot is well imagined 
and well worked out, and, we need scarcely add, 
well calculated to afford gratification to the 
reader."— Press. 

THE TWO HOMES. By the Author 
of " The Heir of Vallis." 3 vols. 

"There is a great deal that is very good in this 
book— a great deal of good feeling and excellent 
design. . . . There are some good pictures of 
Madeira, and of life and society there; and there 
are evidences of much painstaking and talent."— 
Athenccum. 

" ' The Two Homes ' is a very clever novel. . . 
Madeira furnishes Mr. Mathews with a fertile 
theme for his descriptive powers. The dialogue 
is good: the characters all speak and act con- 
sistently with their natures."— Leader. 

" ' The Two Homes ' is a novel of more than 
ordinary merit, and is written throughout in a 
careful and elegant style."— Morning Post. 

THE DENNES OF DAUNDELYONN. 

By Mrs. Charles J. Proby. 3 vols. 

"This is a novel of more than average merit. 
There is considerable knowledge of character, 

Sower of description, and quiet social satire, ex- 
ibited in its pages."— Press. 

" ' The Dennes of Daundelyonn ' is a very read- 
able book, and will be immensely popular. . . . 
It has many beauties which deservedly recom- 
mend it to the novel reader."— Critic. 

" ' The Dennes of Daundelyonn ' is a book writ- 
ten with great vigour and freshness."— Leader. 

" There is mere cleverness and variety in these 
volumes than in twenty average novels."— Gltle. 

COUSIN STELLA; or, Conflict. 
By the Author of " Violet Bank." 
3 vols. 

" An excellent novel, written with great care ; 
the interest is well sustained to the end, and the 
characters are all life-like. It is an extremely 
well-written and well-conceived story, with quiet 
power and precision of touch, with freshness of 
interest and great merit."— Athenceum. 

" ' Cousin Stella' has the merit, now becoming 
rarer and rarer, of a comparative novelty in its 
subject ; the interest of which will secure for this 
novel a fair share of popularity." — Saturday 
Review. 

20 



By the Author of 



all libraries.) 

CONFIDENCES. 

" Rita." 

"Decidedly both good and interesting. The 
book has a fresh and pleasant air about It : it is 
written in an excellent tone, and there are touches 
of pathos here and there which we must rank 
with a higher style of composition than that 
usually attained in works of this class."— New 
Quarterly Review. 

"This new novel, by the author of 'Rita,' dis- 
plays the same combination of ease and power in 
the delineation of character, the same life-like 
dialogue, aud the same faculty of constructing an 
interesting story."— Spectator. 

" ' Confidences' is written in the most pleasing 
manner of any novel we have read for years 
past."— Leader. 

"A clever book, and not too long."— Examiner. 

TRUST FOR TRUST. By 

A. J. Barrowcliffe, Author of 
" Amberhill." 3 vols. 

" The story is admirably developed. Theinterest 
never flags, the incidents are natural without 
being commonplace, and the men and woman talk 
and act like human beings."— Press. 

" It is seldom we find, even in this great age of 
novel writing, so much that is pleasant and so 
little to object to as in ' Trust for Trust.' It con- 
tains much original thought and fresh humour." 
— Leader. 

" The story evinces vigour of description and 
power of writing."— Literary Churchman. 

ELLEN RAYMOND; or, Ups and 
Downs. By Mrs. Vidal, Author 
of "Tales for the Bush," &c. 
3 vols. 

" The plot is wrought out with wonderful inge- 
nuity, and the different characters are sustained 
in perfect keeping to the end.."— Illustrated News 
of the World. 

" The characters are good, the style pure, cor- 
rect, brisk, and easy."— Press. 

"Mrs. Vidal displays resource, imagination, 
and power in no common degree. * * * There is 
more power and strength put forth in ' Ellen 
Raymond' than perhaps in any lady's book of 
this generation."— Saturday Review. 

" This novel will find a great many admirers." 
— Leader. 

LOST AND WON. By Georgiana 
M. Craik, Author of " Biverston." 
1 vol. 2nd Edition. 

" Nothing superior to this novel has appeared 
during the present season."— Leader. 

" Miss Craik's new story is a good one and in 
point of ability above the average of ladies' novels." 
—Daily News. 

" The language is good, the narrative spirited, 
the characters are fairly delineated, and the 
dialogue has considerable dramatic force."— 
Saturday Review. 

" This is an improvement on Miss Craik's first 
work. The story is more compact and more 
interesting."— Athenceum. 

THE MOORS AND THE FENS. 

By F. G. Trafford. 3 vols. 

" This novel stands out much in the same way 
that 'Jane Eyre' did. . . . The characters are 
drawn by a mind which can realize fictitious 
characters with minute intensity."— Saturday 
Review. 

"It is seldom that a first fiction is entitled to 
such applause as is ' The Moors and the Fens,' 
and we snail look anxiously for the writer's next 
essay."— Critic. 

" The author has the gift of telling a story, and 
'The Moors and the Fens' will be read." — 
Athenmim. 



SlVriTH, ELDEE -AJSTD CO. 



NEW NOVELS— continued, 



AN OLD DEBT. By Florence 
Dawson. 2 vols. 

"A powerfully written novel; one of the best 
which has recently proceeded from a female 
hand. . . . The dialogue is vigorous and 
spirited."— Morning Post. 

"There is an energy and vitality about this 
work which distinguish it from the common 
head of novels. Its terse vigour sometimes recals 
Miss Bronte, but in some respects Miss Florence 
Dawson is decidedly superior to the author 01 
•Jane Eyre.'"— Saturday Review. 

" This novel is written with great care and 
painstaking; it evinces considerable powers of 
reflection. The style is good, and the author 
possesses the power of depicting emotion."— 
Athemeum. 

"A very good seasonable novel."— Leader. 

SYLVAN HOLTS DAUGHTER. 

By Holme Lee, Author of " Kathie 
Brande/' &c. 2nd edition. 3 vols. 

"The well-established reputation of Holme 
Lee, as a novel writer, will receive an additional 
glory from the publication of 'Sylvan Holt's 
Daughter.' It is a charming tale of country life 
and character."— Globe. 

" There is much that is attractive in ' Sylvan 
Holt's Daughter,' much that is graceful and re- 
fined, much that is fresh, healthy, and natural." 
—Press. 

"The conception of the story has a good deal of 
originality, and the characters avoid common- 
place types, without being unnatural or improba- 
ble. The heroine herself is charming. It is a 
novel in winch there is much to interest and 
please."— New Quarterly Review. 

"A novel that is well worth reading, and which 
possesses the cardinal virtue of being extremely 
interesting."— Athena urn. 

"A really sound, good book, highly finished, 
true to nature, vigorous, passionate, honest, and 
sincere."— Dublin University Magazine. 

MY LADY : a Tale or Modern 
Life. 2 vols. 

"'My Lady' is a fine specimen of an English 
matron, exhibiting that union of strength and 
gentleness, of common sense and romance, of 
energy and grace, which nearly approaches our 
ideal of womanhood."— Press. 

" ' My Lady' evinces charming feeling and deli- 
cacy of touch. It is a novel that will be read with 
interest."— Athenaeum. 

" The story is told throughout with great 
strength of feeling, is well written, and has a 
plot which is by no meaDS common-place."— 
Examiner. 

"There is some force and a good deal of fresh- 
ness in ' My Lady.' The characters are distinctly 
drawn, and often wear an appearance of indi- 
viduality, or almost personality. The execution 
is fresh and powerful."— Spectator. 

"A tale of some power."— National Review. 

" It is not in every novel we can light upon a 
style so vigorously graceful— upon an intelligence 
so refined without littleness, so tenderly truthful, 
which has sensibility rather than poetry; but 
which is also most subtly and searchingly power- 
ful." — Dublin University Magazine. 

"Care has been bestowed on the writing, which 
is pleasant and flowing. The descriptions of nature 
are truthful and delicately drawn."— Economist. 

GASTON BLIGH. By L. S. Laventj, 
Author of " Erlesmere." 2 vols. 

" ■ Gaston Bligh ' is a good story, admirably 
told, full of stirring incident, sustaining to the 
close the interest of a very ingenious plot, and 
abounding in clever sketches of character. It 
sparkles with wit, and will reward perusal."— 
Critic. 

" The story is told with great power; the whole 
book sparkles with esprit: and the characters 
talk like gentlemen and ladies. It io very enjoy- 
able reading."— Press. 



By Currer 



THE PROFESSOR. 

Bell. 2 vols. 

""We think the author's friends have shown 
sound judgment in publishing the 'Professor,' 
now that she is gone. ... It shows the first 
germs of conception, which afterwards expanded 
and ripened into the great creations of her imagi- 
nation. At the same time her advisers were 
equally right when they counselled her not to 
publish it in her lifetime. . . . But it abounds 
in merits."— Saturday Review. 

" The idea is original, and we every here and 
there detect germs of that power which took the 
world by storm in 'Jane Eyre.' The rejection of 
the 'Professor' was, in our opinion.no less ad- 
vantageous to the young authoress than creditabla 
to the discernment of the booksellers."— Press. 

"Anything which throws light upon the growth 
and composition of such a mind cannot be other- 
wise than interesting. In the ' Professor ' we may 
discover the germs of many trains of thinking, 
which afterwards came to be enlarged and 
illustrated in subsequent and more perfect 
works."— Critic. 

"There is much new insight in it, mp.ch ex- 
tremely characteristic genius, and one character, 
moreover, of fresher, lighter, and more airy 
grace."— Economist. 

" We have read it with the deepest interest ; 
and confidently predict that this legacy of Char- 
lotte Bronte's genius will renew and confirm the 
general admiration of her extraordinary powers." 
-Eclectic. 

BELOW THE SURFACE. 3 vols. 

"The book is unquestionably clever and enter- 
taining. The writer develops from first to last 
his double view of human life, as coloured by the 
manners of our age. ... It is a tale superior 
to ordinary novels, in its practical application to 
the phases of actual life."— Athenaum. 

" There is a great deal of cleverness in this story : 
a much greater knowledge of country life and 
character in its various aspects and conditions 
than is possessed by nine-tenths of the novelists 
who undertake to describe it."— Spectator. 

" The novel is one that keeps the attention fixed, 
and it is written in a genial, often playful tone. 
The temper is throughout excellent."— Examiner. 

"This is a book which possesses the rare merit 
of being exactly what it claims to be, a story of 
English country life ; and, moreover, a very well 
told story."— Daily News. 

" 'Below the Surface' merits high praise. It is 
full of good things; good taste— good feeling- 
good writing— good notions, and high morality." 
— Globe. 

" Temperate, sensible, kindly, and pleasant."— 
Saturday Revieic. 

"A more pleasant story we have not read for 
many a day ."—British Quarterly. 

THE THREE CHANCES. 

By the Author of "The Fair 
Carew." 3 vols. 

"This novel is of a more solid texture than 
most of its contemporaries. It is full of good 
sense, good thought, and good writing."— States- 
man. 

" Some of the characters and romantic situa- 
tions are strongly marked and peculiarly original. 
. . . It is the great merit of the authoress that 
the personages of her tale are human and real."— 
Leader. 



THE CRUELEST WRONG OF ALL. 

By the Author of " Margaret ; or, 
Prejudice at Home." 1 vol. 

" The author has a pathetic vein, and there is a 
tender sweetness in the tone of her narration."— 
Leader. 

" It has the first requisite of a work meant to 
amuse : it is amusing."— Globe. 



21 



"WOIRICS PUBLISHED BY 



NEW NOVELS— continued. 



KATKIE BRANDE : a Fireside His- 
tory of a Quiet Life. By 
Holme Lee. 2 vols. 

" ' Kathie Brande ' is not merely a very interest- 
ing novel— it is a very wholesome one, for it 
teaches virtue by example."— Critic. 

" Throughout ' Kathie Brande ' there is much 
sweetness, andconsiderablepowerof description." 
—Saturday Review. 

" 'Kathie Brande ' is intended to illustrate the 
paramount excellence of duty as a moving prin- 
ciple. It is full of beauties."— Daily News. 

"Certainly one of the best novels that we have 
lately read."— Guardian. 

EVA DESMOND ; or, Mutation. 
3 vols. 

"A more beautiful creation than Eva it would 
be difficult to imagine. The novel is undoubtedly 
full of interest."— Morning Post. 

" There is power, pathos, and originality in con- 
ception and catastrophe."— Leader. 



THE NOBLE 

A Chronicle. 



TRAYTOUR. 
3 vols. 



" An Elizabethan masquerade. Shakespeare, 
the Queen, Essex, Raleigh, and a hundred nobles, 
ladies, and knights of the land, appear on the 
stage. The author lias imbued himself with the 
spirit of the times."— Leader. 

" The story is told with a graphic and graceful 
pen, and the chronicler has produced a romance 
not only of great value in a historical point of 
view, but possessing many claims upon the atten- 
tion of the scholar, the antiquary, and the general 
reader."— Post. 

PERVERSION ; or, The Causes and 
Consequences of Infidelity. By 
the late Rev. W. J. Conybeare. 
3 vols. 

"This story has a touching interest, which 
lingers with the reader after he has closed the 
book."— Athenaeum. 

"The tone is good and healthy; the religious 
feeling sound and true, and well sustained."— 
Guardian. 

" It is long, very long, since we have read a 
narrative of more power than this."— British 
Quarterly Review. 

'This is a good and a noble book."— New 
Quarterly. 

THE WHITE HOUSE BY THE SEA: 

a Love Story. By M. Betiloi- 
Edwards. 2 vols. 

"A tale of English domestic life. The writing is 
very good, graceful, and unaffected ; it pleases 
without startling. In the dialogue, people do not 
harangue, but talk, and talk naturally.— Critic. 

" The narrative and scenes exhibit feminine 
spirit and quiet truth of delineation."— Spectator. 

MAUD SKILLICORNE'S PENANCE. 

By Mary C. Jackson, Author ot 
"The Story of My Wardship." 
2 vols. 

"The style is natural, and displays considerable 
dramatic power."— Critic. 

"It is a well concocted tale, and will be very 
palatable to novel readers."— Morning Post. 



By Erick 



THE ROUA PASS. 

Mackenzie. 3 vols. 

" It is seldom that we have to notice so good a 
novel as the ' Roua Pass.' The story is well con- 
trived and well told ; the incidents are natural and 
varied; several of the characters are skilfully 
drawn, and that of the heroine is fresh, powerful, 
and original. The Highland scenery, m which 
the plot is laid, is described with truth and feeling 
—with a command of language which leaves a 
vivid impression."— Saturday Review. 

"The peculiar charm of the novel is its skilful 
painting of the Highlands, and of life among the 
Highlanders. Quick observation and a true sense 
of the poetry in nature and human life, the 
author has."— Examiner. 

"The attractions of the story are so numerous 
and varied, that it would be difficult to single out 
any one point of it for attention. It is a brilliant 
social picture of sterling scenes and striking 
adventures."— Sun. 

RIVERSTON. By Georgiana M. 
Craik. 3 vols. 

"A decidedly good novel. The book is a very 
clever one, containing much good writing, well 
discriminated sketches of character, and a story 
told so as to bind the reader pretty closely to the 
text."— Examiner. 

"Miss Craik is a very lively writer : she has wit, 
and she has sense, and she has made in the 
beautiful young governess, with her strong will, 
saucy independence, and promptness of repartee, 
an interesting picture."— Press. 

"Miss Craik writes well; she can paint cha- 
racter, passions, manners, with considerable 
effect ; her dialogue flow's easily and expressively." 
—Daily News, 

"The author shows great command of language, 
a force and clearness of expression not often met 
with. . . . We offer a welcome to Miss Craik, 
and we shall look with interest for her next 
work."— Athenaeum. 

FARINA. By George Meredith. 
1 vol. 

"A masque of ravishers in steel, of robber 
knights : of water-women, more ravishing than 
lovely. It has also a brave and tender deliverer, 
and a heroine proper for a romance of Cologne. 
Those who love a real, lively, audacious piece of 
extravagance, by way of a change, will enjoy 
' Farina.' "—Athenaeum. 

FRIENDS OF BOHEMIA; 
or, Phases of London Life. By 
E. M. Whitty, Author of " The 
Governing Classes." 2 vols. 

" Mr. "Whitty is a genuine satirist, employing 
satire for a genuine purpose. You laugh with him 
very much ; nut the laughter is fruity and ripe in 
thousrht. His style is serious, and his cast of 
mind severe. The author has a merriment akin 
to that of Jaques and that of Timon."— Athenaeum. 

THE EVE OF ST. MARK. A 

Bomance of Venice. By Thomas 

DOUBLEDAY. 2 Vols. 

" ' The Eve of St. Mark ' is not only well written, 
but adroitly constructed, and interesting. Its 
tone is perhaps too gorgeous ; its movement is too 
much that of a masquerade; but a mystery is 
created, and a very loveable heroine is pour- 
tray et\."—Atheii(CUM. 



NOVELS FORTHCOMING. 

A NEW NOVEL. By Nathaniel Hawthorne, Author of "The Scarlet 

Letter," &c. 3 vols. 

A NEW NOVEL. By the Author of " My Lady," 3 vols. 

And other Works of Fiction by Popular Autliors. 

22 



SMITH, ELDER AND CO. 



NEW BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS. 



THE PARENTS' CABINET of Amusement and Instruction for Young 
Persoms. New edition, carefully revised, in 12 Shilling Volumes, each, 
complete in itself, and containing a full page Illustration in oil colours, 
with wood engravings, in ornamented boards. 
contents. 

AMUSING STORIES, all tending to the development of good qualities, and the avoidance of faults. 
BIOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNTS OF REMARKABLE CHARACTERS, interesting to Young People. 
SIMPLE NARRATIVES OF HISTORICAL EVENTS, suited to the capacity of children. 
ELUCIDATIONS OF NATURAL HISTORY, adapted to encourage habits of observation. 
FAMILIAR EXPLANATIONS OF NOTABLE SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES AND MECHANICAL 

INVENTIONS. 
LIVELY ACCOUNTS OF THE GEOGRAPHY, INHABITANTS, AND PRODUCTIONS OF 

DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. 

Miss Edgeworth's Opinion of the Parents' Cabinet:— 

"I almost feel afraid of praising it as much as I think it deserves. . . . There is so much 
variety in the book that it cannot tire. It alternately excites and relieves attention, and does not lead 
to the bad habit of frittering away the mind by requiring no exertion from the reader. . . . Whoever 
four scientific associate is, he understands his business and children's capabilities right well. 



Without lecturing, or prosing, you keep the right and the wrong clearly marked, and hence all 
the sympathy of the young people is always enlisted on the right side." 

*** The work is now complete in 4 vols., extra cloth, gilt edges, at 3s. 6d. 
each; or in 6 volumes, extra cloth, gilt edges, price 2s. 6d. each. 

By the Author of " Round the Fire," &c. 



UNICA : a Story for a Sunday 
Afternoon. With Four Illus- 
trations. Price 35. cloth. 

" The character of Unica is charmingly con- 
oeived, and the story pleasantly told."— Spectator. 

" An excellent and exceedingly pretty story for 
children."— Statesman. 

"This tale, like its author's former ones, Will 
find favour in the nursery."— Athenceum. 

ii. 

OLD GINGERBREAD AND THE 
SCHOOL- BOYS. With Four 
Coloured Plates. Price 3s. cloth. 

" 'Old Gingerbread and the School-boys ' is 
delightful, and the drawing and colouring of the 
pictorial part done with a spirit and correctness." 
— Press. 

"This tale is very good, the descriptions being 
natural, with a feeling of country freshness."— 
Spectator. 

" The book is well got up, and the coloured plates 
are very pretty."— Globe. 

" An excellent boys' book ; excellent in its moral, 
chaste and simple in its language, and luxuriously 
illustrated."— -Illustrated News of the World. 

"A very lively and excellent tale, illustrated 
with very delicately coloured pictures." — 
Economist. 

"A delightful story for little boys, inculcating 
benevolent feelings to the poor."— Eclectic Rev ieiv. 



WILLIE'S BIRTHDAY; showing how 
a Little Boy did what he Liked, 

AND HOW HE ENJOYED IT. With 

Four Illustrations. Price 2s. 6d. cl. 



WILLIE'S REST : a Sunday Story. 
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" Extremely well written story books, amusing 
nnd moral, and got up in a very handsome style. 5 
— -H ormnsj Herald. 



UNCLE JACK, THE FAULT KILLER. 

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ROUND THE FIRE: Six Stories 
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" Six delightful little stories."— Guardian. 

"Simple and very interesting." — National 
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" True children's stories."— Athenceum. 



THE KING OFTHE GOLDEN RIVER; 

or, The Black Brothers. By 
John Ruskin, M. A. Third edition, 
with 22 Illustrations by Richard 
Doyle. Price 2s. 6d. 

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STORIES FROM THE PARLOUR 
PRINTING PRESS. By the 

Authors of the "Parents' Cabinet." 
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RHYMES FOR LITTLE ONES. 

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LITTLE DERWENT'S BREAKFAST. 

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INVESTIGATION ; or, Travels in 
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23 



SKETCHES FROM DOVER 
CASTLE, and other Poems. By 
Lieut.-Col. William Head. Crown 
8vo. Price 7s. 6c?. cloth. 

"To a refined taste, a correct rythmic and 
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poetic resources of our language, Colonel Read 
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"Elegant and graceful, and distinguished hy a 
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—Daily News. 

"It is not often that the heroic couplet is in 
these days so gracefully written. Colonel Read is 
to be congratulated on his success in bending this 
TJlyssean bow. His little volume contains some 
very fine lyrics."— Leader. 

S T I L 1 C H O : a Tragedy. By 
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MAGDALENE. A Poem. Fcap. 8vo. 
price Is. 

IONICA. Fcap. 8vo, 4s. cloth. 

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real poetry."— Critic. 

" The author is in his mood, quizzical, satirical, 
humorous, and didactic by turns, and in each 
mood he displays extraordinary power."— Illus- 
trated News of the World. 

THE SIX LEGENDS OF KING 
GOLDENSTAR. By the late Anna 
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aim."— Globe. 

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POEMS. By Ada Trevanion. 5s. cl. 

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" There are many passages in Miss Trevanion's 
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POEMS. By Henry Cecil. 5s. cloth. 

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" There is an unmistakeable stamp of genuine 
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" Mr. Cecil's poems display qualities which 
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ENGLAND IN TIME OF WAR. 

By Sydney Dobell, Author of 
" Balder," " The Roman," &c. 
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THE CRUEL SISTER, and other 
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POEMS OF PAST YEARS. 

By Sir Arthur Hallam Elton, 
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POEMS. By Mrs. Frank P. Fellows. 
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POETRY FROM LIFE. ByC.M.K. 

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POEMS. By Walter R. Cassels. 
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GARLANDS OF VERSE. By Thomas 
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BALDER. By Sydney Dobell. 
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SELECT ODES OF HORACE. In 

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RHYMES AND RECOLLECTIONS 
OF A HAND-LOOM WEAVER. 

By William Thom. With Me- 
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KING RENE'S DAUGHTER. Fcap. 

8vo, price 2s. 6c/. cloth. 

MAID OF ORLEANS, and otheb 
Poems. Translated from Schiller. 
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London : Printed by Smith, Elder and- Co., Little Green Arbour Court, E.C. 
24 



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